Overberg Baked Cheesecake with Chocolate Crust...

 

This delicious baked cheesecake is one of our favourite desserts, and we usually just make it for very special occasions...

One cheesecake goes very far as it is quite rich and decadent...thus, one only needs a small piece...hmmm...❤

I like to make a strawberry coulis to pour over the top...it makes the cake that little bit extra special and pretty...

This recipe is very simple and quick to prepare...just be careful that you don't bake it for too long as the cake will crumble when you slice it...  I like to cut my cheesecake into small blocks and place them in cupcake wrappers...

Overberg Baked Cheesecake with Chocolate Crust

1 packet chocolate biscuits, crushed

100g melted butter

750 cream cheese

2 tins condensed milk

125ml lemon juice

60ml custard powder

30ml vanilla essence

250ml fresh cream

Mix crumbled biscuits and butter together and press firmly into a loose-based cake tin.  Mix remaining ingredients except cream together.  Whip cream and fold into mixture.  Pour into prepared cake tin.  Bake in an oven pre-heated to 180 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes.  Remove and cool.

~

We served our cheesecake at Nancy's sixteenth birthday high tea...  

I love sipping  tea and enjoying a little slice of this as a treat whilst chatting with special friends...the perfect combination, don't you think...?

~

I have a special surprise coming for you this Friday {hopefully}, dear friends, so do stop by again...you don't want to miss it!

Blessings to you!

~

  This post may be shared with...

~ The Art of Homemaking Mondays, Roses of Inspiration, Wise Woman Link-Up, Raising Homemakers Link-Up, Cooking and Crafting with J and J and Modest Monday

A Little Cowgirl Turns Four...

 

This precious little girl celebrated her fourth birthday on Sunday...

Gabrielle, Rebekah and Sofia...

Sofia loves horses and just about anything to do with cowboys, and has been talking for months about riding... 

Thus, we thought taking her for a ride on a miniature horse would be the perfcet way to treat her for her birthday...

Of course all us girls wanted to go along to see our sweet little sister ride a horse for the first time, and I wanted pictures and videos of the special event!

 

I was quite surprised at how relaxed and comfortable Sofia was astride her horse...she had no fear and knew exactly what do as if it came naturally to her...  Her position was wonderful too...I think we may have another horse lover in the family...

Nancy and I had hoped to create a special horse themed cake for Sofia...we thought of a ''grassy'' field with horses and little fences dotted around, but sadly we couldn't find any mini plastic horses, and we weren't going to try a horse's head again after the last episode!

In the end, we decided to go with a simple rainbow cake which Beth and I baked and Nancy, Sindy and I decorated...

 

It turned out perfectly and Sofia was thrilled with the different colours.

 

I think little Sofia will always remember her fourth birthday...

In the evening we looked through all her baby pictures and videos and oh my!  You should have heard the giggling that came from our living room!  

 

Ah, such delightful memories and I hold them ever so dearly...  Sofia was the second baby I blogged about, and these past four years have gone by incredibly swiftly...Sofia is a wonderful addition to our family, and she is very loving towards all of us.

Seven sisters...oh, what JOY!

~ From oldest to youngest...Kelly-Anne {18}, Sindy {17}, Nancy {16}, Beth {11}, Gabrielle {8}, Rebekah {6} and Sofia {4} ~

I couldn't imagine a single day without her, and praise Jesus for giving us the privilege of welcoming her into our family four years ago.

Dearest little sister Sofia...oh, we love you so very much!  Happy birthday, little one!

P.S.  In case you are wondering, Sindy is a recent member to our little family...we feel so blessed to and humbled to have another sister to love, and I will be introducing you to her sometime this week...{{smiles}}

~

A blessed Tuesday to you, dearest readers!

Birthday Musings...

...And so a lovely day of celebrating came to an end...
Now I take delight of sharing a few of the photographs from Beth's party with you...

Firstly, let me thank each of you for your lovely birthday wishes for Beth...how kind you all are!

~

After ever so many vintage, pink and girly party themes over the last few years, we decided to do something completely different for a change and thought a Wild West party would be lots of fun!

We saw an adorable idea in a magazine for a cowboy boot cake, complete with spurs...so I set to work on Tuesday baking a deliciously rich chocolate cake and whipping up some lovely butter icing...hmmm... 

This cake was so much fun to make...❤

That evening whilst Nancy was busy wrapping Beth's gifts, I began by cutting the shape (drawn by my dear mom!), sandwiching the two layers together and giving it an initial layer of icing to ensure no bits of cake were visible in the final layer...  Then Nancy wove her magic with fondant icing to create the details...

 Pure excitement...smiles...

 

Wednesday dawned beautiful and crisp...  After Beth unwrapped her birthday gifts, we had some delicious hot chocolate made with dark chocolate, and what hot chocolate would be complete without marshmallows...?

Beth with her hot chocolate...perfect for a chilly winter's day!

Rebekah enjoying her cup of hot chocolate...❤

We then prepared the few things we needed to give Beth a little party...  We just had one sweet family join us, which was lovely...

Nancy and Mom made these cute party packs containing a bandana, a sheriff badge and a few chocolate coins...

The party bags...wouldn't you like to receive one, my friends...?

The goodies within...

~

 Tea and cake were the simple but delicous refreshments served at the party...along with smiles and laughter...

 

...And so the day ended with a wonderful family dinner...smiles...

What a special, relaxed day we had with the birthday girl...I honestly can't believe

she is 11 already...how the time flies!  ❤

~

I hope you enjoyed a peek at Beth's birthday party, dear friends!

Have a wonderful weekend further!

~ Blessings ~

The Elegant Red Velvet Cake

As promised, here is the lovely recipe for the Red Velvet cake we baked for my dear mother’s birthday last Saturday...

 I have tried baking a Red Velvet cake before, but I unfortunately failed in my attempts… 

However, we found this new recipe in a beautiful magazine (Prima Christmas Makes, 2014) and thought we would give it a go as it certainly sounded very delicious!

I was thoroughly impressed with the moistness of this cake and how the cream cheese icing not only created an elegant finish, but also tasted divine…

This is a cake that actually improves with age, so you could make it the evening before and it will still be fresh the next day…

I am certain you won’t be disappointed by this recipe!

Red Velvet Cake

For the Sponge:

150ml buttermilk

250ml sunflower oil

1 tsp concentrated red food colouring

2 eggs

225g castor sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

225g plain flour

2 tbsp cocoa powder

2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 tsp vinegar

For the filling:

50g butter

50g icing sugar

150g cream cheese

To make:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Mix the buttermilk, oil and red food colouring together, then place in a mixing bowl and add remaining ingredients.

Beat well with a wooden spoon until smooth and then place in a greased cake pan.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until just firm to the touch.  Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out and leave to cool on a wire rack.

To make the icing, beat the butter and icing sugar until smooth, then beat in the cream cheese. 

Flatten the top of the cake then carefully cut in half.

Use the icing to sandwich the two layers together, then spread a little on the top.

Decorate as desired.

I hope all my sweet readers have a beautifully blessed weekend!

~ You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains will burst into song before you, and the trees of the field will clap their hands.  Isaiah 55:12 ~

Carrot Cake with Zingy Orange Icing

 This morning I baked this lovely, moist carrot cake...  As we didn’t have any cream cheese in the house for a traditional carrot cake icing, I decided to rather make an orange icing to drizzle over the top...

For the Cake...

160ml Sunflower oil

200ml Sugar

2 Eggs, beaten

150g finely grated carrot

50g Walnuts, chopped

150g Cake flour

10ml Baking powder

2.5ml Bicarbonate of Soda

5ml Ground cinnamon

1ml Nutmeg

1ml Ground cloves

1 Orange, zest only

Grease a 20x20cm square cake pan.  Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.  In a large bowl, beat together the oil and sugar.  Add beaten eggs, a little at a time, beating continuously.  Stir in grated carrot and chopped walnuts.  Fold sifted dry ingredients into wet mixture and mix thoroughly.  Pour into cake pan and bake for 35-40 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean.  Cool in the pan for about 10 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.  

For the Icing...

Juice and zest of 1 orange

150-170g icing sugar, sifted

Walnuts, to decorate

In a bowl, combine the orange juice and zest with 150g of the icing sugar.  If the icing is too runny, add the remaining 20g of icing sugar and mix well.  Once the cake is completely cool, pour the icing in the middle and leave to run down the sides...  Sprinkle the walnuts over the top and serve with a pot of tea...

~ I do hope you enjoy ~

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Blessings,

 

14

 Nancy celebrated her fourteenth birthday yesterday.

The beautiful Turkish delight cake she made herself.  Nancy and I tried our hand at making rose scented Turkish delight the week before – I will share more on these lovely treats in another post sometime soon...

 The cutest sisters.  Sofia turned two on the 12^th, so she and Nancy had a combined birthday tea yesterday.  She loved the cupcakes Nancy made for her...

 

 Nancy and Beth made the adorable fondant tea cups, flowers and tea pots.  The cupcakes were also made with Turkish delight and were too sweet for words!

  “What a difficult choice – which one to have?”

  The little girls enjoying the celebration!

 To a beautiful fourteen year old sister; I love you very much.  You are so creative and an inspiration.  May the Lord continue to lead and guide you in your life and bless you in all you do!  Hugs and kisses. Xxx