Five months ago my food blog went online and my enthusiasm and my joy have definitely increased since then.
What fascinates me most is the diversity of all the activities involved in blogging. First of all, and without a doubt the most important one, is the creation and development of new recipes that many readers like. Then I also need a kind of “story” to go with my recipes.
Chocolate waiting for the cake
Chocolate Addiction
Chocolate Addiction And More
Clever Eggs
Clever Eggs Reaching For The Light
At the moment though, the greatest challenge for me is taking good photos. When I started blogging five months ago I had about as much knowledge of photographing as I had of space travel. All the photos I had shot so far were taken with a cellphone. We had a proper camera somewhere in the house but all I knew about it was how to switch it on. I had heard the terms aperture and exposure before, yet I had simply no idea what they meant and how they would influence my pictures. Yet, I also knew that taking good photos is really vital in food blogging and so I decided to have a go. So in the last five months I’ve been trying to come to terms with my camera and develop a feeling for food styling.
When I shot the photos for this blog post I used a dark background and only natural light. I tried to create a dark and moody atmosphere which seemed appropriate for a chocolate cake …
My Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake displays a unique balance between chocolatey richness and fruity and creamy liveliness. To create the chocolate taste I used dark chocolate and a hazelnut chocolate spread. To counterbalance this gooey richness I used some chopped cherries and a mascarpone-yoghurt cream. A delicious combination! 🙂
Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake
115 g dark chocolate
115 g (1/2 cup) butter
100 g (1/2 cup) sugar
135 g (1 cup and 2 tablespoons) all purpose flour
5 eggs
¾ teaspoon baking powder
2 ½ tablespoons chocolate hazelnut spread (e.g. Nutella)
200 g pitted cherries (fresh or poached and drained)
500 g (2 cups) mascarpone or cream cheese
180 g (3/4 cups) yoghurt
50 g (1/4 cup) sugar (or more, according to your taste)
½ lemon (juice)
vanilla extract
2 tablespoons chocolate hazelnut spread (e.g. Nutella)
2 tablespoons milk
Preheat to oven to 180°C (160°C fan oven, 350°F, gas mark 4). Grease a 25 cm (10 inch) cake tin with butter and dust it with flour.
Place the dark chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and melt the chocolate. Make sure that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water.
Cream the butter (1/2 cup) and the sugar (1/2 cup) until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks and continue beating until the mixture is very creamy. Add the slightly cooled, melted chocolate and the chocolate hazelnut spread and beat well.
Combine the flour and the baking powder. Add to the mixture and beat well until everything is well combined.
Beat the egg whites until stiff and gently fold them into the cake mixture.
Chop the cherries and gently fold them in, too.
Transfer the mixture into the cake tin and bake for about 40 minutes.
Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool completely.
Beat the mascarpone, yoghurt, sugar (1/4 cups), vanilla and lemon juice until creamy. Spread the cream on the chocolate cake.
Mix the chocolate-hazelnut spread (2 tablespoons) and the milk until you get a smooth, creamy spread (you might need more than 2 tablespoons). You should have a thick cream but you should also be able to pour it onto the cake in circles. Use the back of a spoon to swirl it around.
Swirl Around
And finally, here is the recipe for printing:
- 115 g dark chocolate
- 115 g (1/2 cup) butter
- 100 g (1/2 cup) sugar
- 135 g (1 cup and 2 tablespoons) all purpose flour
- 5 eggs
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- 2 ½ tablespoons chocolate hazelnut spread (e.g. Nutella)
- 200 g pitted cherries (fresh or poached and drained)
- 500 g (2 cups) mascarpone or cream cheese
- 180 g (3/4 cups) yoghurt
- 50 g (1/4 cup) sugar (or more, according to your taste)
- ½ lemon (juice)
- vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons chocolate hazelnut spread (e.g. Nutella)
- 2 tablespoons milk
- Preheat to oven to 180°C (160°C fan oven, 350°F, gas mark 4). Grease a 25 cm (10 inch) cake tin with butter and dust it with flour.
- Place the dark chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and melt the chocolate. Make sure that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water.
- Cream the butter (1/2 cup) and the sugar (1/2 cup) until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks and continue beating until the mixture is very creamy. Add the slightly cooled, melted chocolate and the chocolate hazelnut spread and beat well.
- Combine the flour and the baking powder. Add to the mixture and beat well until everything is well combined.
- Beat the egg whites until stiff and gently fold them into the cake mixture.
- Chop the cherries and gently fold them in, too.
- Transfer the mixture into the cake tin and bake for about 40 minutes.
- Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool completely.
- Beat the mascarpone, yoghurt, sugar (1/4 cups), vanilla and lemon juice until creamy. Spread the cream on the chocolate cake.
- Mix the chocolate-hazelnut spread (2 tablespoons) and the milk until you get a smooth, creamy spread (you might need more than 2 tablespoons). You should have a thick cream but you should also be able to pour it onto the cake in circles. Use the back of a spoon to swirl it around.
