Shavuot Treat: Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake!

This recipe finds its way to CKCA via our friend Rick Lupia, who altered it from a book of cheesecake recipes called "Cheesecake Extraordinaire” by Mary Crownover (1994).

Cookie crust:

11 chocolate sandwich cookies (Oreos), crushed
3 tbsp butter, melted

In a small bowl, mix together ingredients until well combined and press mixture evenly into 9-inch springform pan.

Filling:

11 ounces cream cheese
1 cup sour cream
3/4 cup sugar
5 eggs
10 ounces milk chocolate chips (melted)
1 and 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup whipping cream (plus extra to whip for garnish)
3 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, grated or shaved (plus extra for garnish)

In a large bowl, combine first three ingredients. Beat with an electric mixer until smooth, then add eggs one at a time. Beat in the vanilla and melted chocolate and turn off the mixer. Stir in the grated chocolate and the whipping cream.

Pour cheesecake mixture into the springform pan. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes, then lower the temperature to 200 and bake for another 1 hour and 25 minutes, or until the center is no longer wet and shiny. Remove the cake from the oven and immediately run a knife around the edge of the pan. Turn the oven off, then return the cake to the oven for an additional two hours. Chill, uncovered, overnight.

Garnish with whipped cream and additional shaved chocolate.

Pareve Red Velvet Cupcakes!

Chef Philippe Kaemmerle, classically trained French pastry chef and instructor of our Professional Baking and Pastry program, who will also be teaching a recreational class on Cupcakes on June 5th (call 718-758-1339 to sign up, it's only $75), shares this delicious recipe for red velvet cupcakes!

Ingredients (Yield: 10 cupcakes)

1 egg

3/4 cup canola oil

3/4 cup of sugar

1/2 cup of Toffuti sour cream

1 tablespoon red food coloring

1/2 teaspoon vinegar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups of flour

1/2 tablespoon cocoa

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Icing

1 cup Toffuti cream cheese (500 ml)

1/2 cup icing sugar, sifted (250 ml)

1/4 cup Coffee cream (125 ml)

Zest of 1/2 lemon



Directions

Preheat oven to 350 °F (180 °C).

In a food processor, mix the eggs with the sugar, oil, toffuti, food coloring, vinegar and vanilla. Add flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Blend until just incorporated.

Place cupcake papers into a muffin pan, divide the batter in the cupcake papers, pouring only halfway so batter doesn’t overflow, and bake, rotating half way through, for 25 to 30 minutes. Remove and let cool.

Icing

In a bowl, beat the cream cheese, icing sugar, coffee cream and lemon zests together until the mixture is smooth. Pipe the cream on the cupcakes.

We're All About Cupcakes!

You've never tasted cupcakes like these before! Chef Philippe Kaemmerle, classically trained in France and the instructor of CKCA's professional training program in pastry arts puts his sophisticated spin on the classic cupcake. In this hands-on class you will be learning to bake several types of cupcakes including red velvet, rocky road, coconut, chocolate and lemon as well as equally enticing toppings--Italian butter cream, espresso meringue, and tofutti cream cheese icing. Join CKCA and Chef Kaemmerle for this one of a kind class. Adults and teens welcome.

Sun, June 5, 10:30 am – 2:30 pm

$75 -- CALL TO REGISTER -- 718.758.1339

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Bread Baking!

Join CKCA and resident bread expert Lynn Kutner for the second installment of her outstanding bread workshop series. Fresh out of the oven this time: whole grain brioche, pumpernickel, and a cinnamon-raisin whole wheat bread. Also on the menu, a buckwheat blini, served for lunch with a little smoked salmon and pareve scallion cream cheese.

Sun, June 12, 9:30 am – 1:30 pm

$75 – CALL TO REGISTER – 718.758.1339

Don't Miss Our Summer Evening Master Class in Miniature Decorative Pastry

Miniature decorative pastries have been the dessert of choice at parties and events large and small. Few desserts make for a better presentation than a tidy arrangement of carefully constructed miniatures. In the language of classic culinary arts they are known as petit fours and include any small cake or pastry item small enough to be eaten in one or two bites. Most petit fours are comprised of many distinct components and require a steady hand and sharp eye for detailed decoration.

In this four-day hands-on workshop, classically trained French pastry chef Philippe Kaemmerle will teach the class to make all the components of a variety of petit fours.

Monday and Tuesday evenings, June 20, 21, 27, 28, 6:30 – 10:30 pm

$375 – CALL TO REGISTER – 718.758.1339

Love Chocolate? This Workshop is for You!

Join CKCA Pastry Chef Philippe Kaemmerle for this very exciting workshop on all things chocolate. The class will start with an explanation of what chocolate is and how it is used in pastry and confectionary work. Chef Kaemmerle will then demonstrate how to temper chocolate, how to mold chocolate, and how to create a variety of different chocolate truffles. This is a hands-on class, so be prepared to get your hands dirty (and then lick them clean).

Sunday, May 22nd: 10:30am-1:30pm

$75 – CALL TO REGISTER – 718.758.1339

Just a Few Spots Left in Cake Decorating Master Class

The Center for Kosher Culinary Arts presents

A MASTER CLASS IN CAKE DECORATION

This class is appropriate for experienced culinary arts students or graduates who would like to develop cake decorating skills, or for the novice baker who is interested purely in cake decorating.

EVENING: Monday nights, May 9, 16, 23, 30 and June 6, 6:30 - 9:30 pm

Appropriate for beginner to intermediate cake decorators. Price of class includes a student tool kit. All baking and decorating done on premises, during class.

If you are serious about learning how to make exquisite, professional looking cakes, this intensive hands-on class is the one you’ve been waiting for. Over the course of five weeks, we will teach you how to create cakes and decorate with fondant in order to create your very own stunning three-tiered masterpiece.

Topics covered include:

- How to ice a cake with rolled fondant
- Rolled fondant decoration techniques
- How to make pareve butter cream
- How to bake, ice, fill and assemble a 3-tiered cake
- How to slice cake layers evenly

$375 -- CALL TO REGISTER -- 718.758.1339