#foodplating

A very wobbly and moist two-toned matcha basque cheesecake. When I decide I'm going to bake something, my mind goes into hyper focus and I cannot think about anything else other than how I can make the vision in my head come to life (that said, my bakes/ pictures hardly ever turn out as I imagine).

So I was horrified when I went to my usual baking supplies shop and found out that they had run out of 6 inch pans (everyone's baking because they are stuck at home due to Covid-19). I called 5 other baking supplies shop and none of them had any more 6 inch pans in stock. I eventually found a seller online and cabbed down immediately to seize the last available 6-inch pan in Singapore. As soon as I reached home, I set about to making this cheesecake. After an excruciating hour of waiting for this to cool down, I sliced it open. Only when I saw the gorgeous cross section did I find peace.

As dessert for my day of wonderful food, I tested a recipe for spiced fluffy pancakes with mead-apples and nicecream. It's delicious and pretty doable!

First things first! Get 1,5 mug of water with a tablespoon or two of oats in a bowl. Let it sit there for now.

Peel a small apple and slice it in small equal pieces. Add this to a pan together with a splash of honey and a wineglass of mead. (You might need to add along the way) Get this on the fire, and stir regularly until your desired cookedness. I went with a translucent, lightly caramelized apple.

I choose a walnut mead since it'll go together with the cinnamon in the pancakes and the apple, but feel free to experiment with other flavours and/or fluids.

With your trusty hand blender, blend up the water oatmeal mix in your bowl. Make it as fine as you can. No need for straining though! Then add 1,5 mug of flour, a teaspoon of baking soda, cinnamon, and honey, around 4 tablespoons (you could also use sugar). Mix quickly with a whisk. When mixed, add ± 3 tablespoons of sunflower oil, whisk this in well.

Taste your batter. It should taste sweet, and be not very thin or really thick. No idea how to describe it. For the Dutch: dunne vla. Too thick? Add a small splash of water. Too thin? A bit of flour, my friend.

Bake the pancakes in a skillet on low heat, wait for the pan to be hot before you drop half a ladle. Flip when the bubbles form on the top and stay that way. Honey burns quicker than sugar, so be mindful of that. It's better to have a light caramel than a burned wreck.

Get a nice stack on a nice plate.

Add the warm apples in a fabulous way.

To be extra, make nicecream by blending a frozen banana. You need to prepare this in advance. Slice a banana and put the slices in a ziplock bag. Throw in the freezer for a couple of hours. Put the slices in a mug or something, wait 5 minutes and then blend it. It'll take a few tries to get right, and it is easier in a bigger portion. Don't give up hope though! It'll be worth it. Especially with a walnut on top and cinnamonroll for luck.