Gerald's Heavenly Desserts

Whether it's a birthday, holiday, business meeting or Wednesday afternoon, everyday can be cheesecake day with Gerald's Heavenly Desserts LLC. Our cheesecakes are rich in texture, flavorful, extremely eye-catching and sinfully indulgent. Gerald's Heavenly Desserts LLC, Cheesecakes and specialty cakes are made from scratch with over 20 different flavors to uniquely combine. If you don't see the perfect cake or dessert, ask and Gerald will satisfy your creative sweet tooth. Located in Atlanta, Gerald's Heavenly Desserts LLC come delivered anywhere in the Atlanta Metro Area or shipped anywhere in the US and can be at your doorstep in two days. For something different, try the signature Sweet Potato cheesecake, White Chocolate Cake, Coconut Cake, Turtle Cheesecake, Key Lime Cheesecake, Strawberry Cheesecake or Decadent Red Velvet Cake. Know Before You Go: This flourishing web-based business has no store front to shop. So Gerald specializes in local deliveries same day, within 24 hours guaranteeing freshness. The Extras: "From pies and brownies to specialty cakes and customized cheesecakes, this family owned company caters to your sweet tooth. Take advantage of nationwide delivery and have a treat waiting when you return home." --Air Tran Magazine When You Go: When you check out Gerald's website, be sure to find out what the "Cheesecake of the Month"



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJbB3IdY1t8&hl=en

Desserts the centre allotment of your party

It is always fascinating to watch the reaction of guests at an event when the news regarding desserts is announced.  There is such glee and anticipation.  Rarely is there the disapproving voice.  Even where persons have declared they are on a diet. They will quickly convince you that they always have ‘room' for dessert. Interestingly, they will convincingly declare that their diet is able to accommodate sweets.
Armed with this knowledge, you should feel free to ‘flex' your creative mind in order to sweeten and tantalize all the senses, particularly the taste buds of your clients or guests. In designing a "pastry-table" for any given function, you sugar coated, calorific license will be exercised.  As you are aware, some persons eat very little of the appetizers or the entrees in an effort to leave room for the dessert; you must not disappoint.
For the Pastry table to be the centre piece of your party or get together it should have variety and be very colorful and inviting.  Quite likely you were already working with a theme for the party, so mingling the theme with your pastry table will add even more interest and become a conversation piece. On the other hand you could choose to make your pastry table portray a contrasting but non competing theme for additional interest.  One added feature that is welcomed is the use of ‘flora' and ‘fauna'
Pastry tables or bar could be large or small, this too would be dependent on the size of the gathering and the budgetary allocation. Such a table should occupy a very central place in the party location.  While your pastry table should stand out your aim is never to make it overdone or gaudy. 
One example of a theme would be ‘Tropical freshness' mingled with ‘Dairy delights'.  We could showcase an array of desserts made with coconut, pineapples and possibly oranges and lemon. A suggested list then could be, Coconut Macaroons (dotted with a piece of maraschino cherry), coconut cream pie, pineapple upside down cake, Vanilla Cheese cake with Lemon topping, Orange Banana Nut Cake.
In keeping with the tropical theme, you could use dried coconut leaves as a part of the décor.  Depending on the time of year or the calibre of the function the leaves could be spray painted or left in their natural state for a more rustic feel.
The recipes for these mouthwatering treats and more are available upon your request.

Best Dessert Recipes - The Best Desserts Are "Just" Desserts

A lovely dinner doesn't feel complete until dessert is served. Desserts should always compliment the menu. Our taste buds focus on sweet, sour and salty. If you prepared a menu that includes sweet and sour, you'll want to offer a less complex dessert. The best desserts for meals of this kind suggest simplicity - pears poached in a plum wine sauce, blood orange slices sauted in pineapple juice and rum or bananas rolled in coconut and pecans and baked in Cointreau sauce.

For meals that are standard meat and potatoes, your menu's theme is a good guide. With roast beef or chicken entrees, the best dessert recipes may be typical rice pudding or apple pie. Try adding coconut to your rice pudding and top them with orange slices sauted in brown sugar. Serve apple pie with a slice of a really great cheddar cheese for ultra-sophisticated simplicity. Or, try glazing it with apricot preserves and then broiling until the top turns slightly bubbly.

Planning main menus ahead very carefully is an opportunity to coordinate food flavors. When serving Italian food, for instance, a great idea is to serve one of the best dessert recipes that's simply delicious - cassata, an Italian cheesecake that's easy to make. Some cassata recipes call for ricotta, a heavier-textured Italian cheese. Try using mascarpone instead of ricotta. You will need a springform pan for this recipe.

Cassata:

16 oz. Mascarpone or Ricotta cheese. (If you are using Ricotta, sieve until smooth.)
4 eggs separated, slightly chilled
1 1/4 cups superfine sugar
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated orange rind
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond liqueur
1/2 cup white raisins soaked in Sambucca liqueur, drained (reserve liqueur)
1/4 cup pignoli nuts
1 sponge cake - May be purchased or use standard recipe for sponge cake

Beat eggs yolks until they reach a pale yellow color. Add vanilla and almond liqueur. Blend with beater. Beat egg white until stiff but not dried, adding sugar slowly. Fold egg yolk mixture with cheese and raisins. Add orange rind. Slowly fold in egg whites.

Line bottom and sides of spring form pan with sponge cake. Brush with reserved liqueur. Do not soak. Pour in cheese mixture. Allow to set overnight or at least 6 hours before serving. Sprinkle top with pignoli nuts.

For casual "Saturday Night" menus, the best dessert recipes can also be fun desserts. Try old fashioned ice cream sodas or sundaes your guests can "build" themselves. Don't throw out that leftover morning coffee. Pour it into your blender, add a dash of cocoa powder and for adults, a little Frangelico liqueur, and a scant dash of chili powder....yes...chili powder. Sweeten to taste. Pour into old-fashioned glasses and add a dollop of chocolate ice cream and a spring of mint.

One of the best dessert recipes for groups is also a lot of fun: Chocolate fondue. Instead of the traditional fondue pot, pour your melted chocolate into individual Irish coffee glasses. Place a dinner plate under each glass. Add strawberries, marshmallows, walnuts, and small chunks of pound cake. Serve with a fondue fork. Unique and fun for guests.

Mouth-Watering Thai Desserts - The Flour

A friend of mine told me that my article, " Mouth-Watering Thai Desserts" on August 9th, 2008, does not have information on flour used in Thai desserts. My friend was right - I mentioned flour in one of the seven main ingredients but I did not write anything about flour. Thus, continuing from the previous article on "Mouth-Watering Thai Desserts" this article will focus on flour used in Thai desserts. Taken together, these two articles give a fuller picture of Thai desserts.

The following are the common flours used in Thai desserts: sticky rice flour, rice flour, cassave starch, corn starch, wheat flour, arrowroot starch and mung bean flour.

Sticky Rice Flour (paeng khao niaw)

Sticky rice flour is also referred to as "sweet rice powder" or "glutinous rice flour." It is made from short-grain sticky rice that becomes moist, firm and sticky when cooked. This is due to its proportionally higher number of waxy starch molecules. With its chewy texture, sticky rice flour is a favorite base for buns and pastries. Sticky rice flour is often combined with plain rice flour to create a variety of Thai desserts.

In Thailand there are 2 types of sticky rice flour: wet and dry. Wet sticky rice flour is finely milled with water, whereas dry sticky rice flour is finely milled without water. When buying sticky rice flour, choose products that have a white color and no smell or moisture.

Example desserts using sticky rice flour are Paeng Jee (grilled coconut cakes), Bua Loy Benjarong (taro, pumpkin, and mung dal bean balls in coconut milk) and Khanom Thua Paep (mung bean stuffing coated with shredded coconut meat).

Rice Flour (paeng khao jao)

Rice flour is used to thicken various dishes and is also an important ingredient in various Thai desserts. Rice flour is a good substitute for wheat flour, in that the latter causes digestive system irritation in those who are gluten intolerant. However, rice flour should not be used or substituted in some desserts like cakes. This is because rice flour is not finely milled like cake flour, and would not yield the same quality of desserts. In Thailand, there are 3 types of rice flour:

rice flour made from rice older than a year - good for absorbing water,
rice flour made from new rice - does not absorb water as well because of its moisture, and
rice flour made from new rice without water - excellent at absorbing water.

Beyond the type of flour, there are many grades for each type. To buy rice flour, choose products with a white color and absence of an old smell. If you plan to make a dessert using rice flour, find flour that was finely milled so your dessert will have a smooth texture.

Example desserts using rice flour are Khanom Chan (nine-layered dessert) and Khanom Thuay (coconut cakes).

Wheat Flour (paeng sa lee)

Wheat flour is a fine white powder that has high gluten content. There are different types of wheat flour depending on the types/characteristics of wheat used and the milling process. The common wheat flours are bread flour, all purpose flour and cake flour. These 3 types of wheat flour are different in the percentage of protein contained in the flour. Bread flour has the highest percentage of protein, 12%-13%, followed by all purpose flour at 9%-10% and cake four at 6%-9%.

Protein content is an important key for a buyer to know because it yields different result in cooking. High protein content means more water will be absorbed and there will be a longer mixing time to achieve optimum consistency. Thus the desserts/snacks that are chewy or sticky usually use the high protein content wheat flour.

Mung Bean Flour (paeng tao khiaw)

Mung bean flour is made from mung beans. It is a gluten-free flour. Some brands offer a very fine texture of flour. If the flour is not finely ground, one must grind it before use to prevent lumps. Mung bean flour comes in a variety of colors depending on how much it has been precessed. When cooking mung bean flour (with water on a stove), it turns transparent. One of the most well-known uses for mung bean flour is in so-called glass/clear noodles, very fine noodles made with a highly refined form of mung bean flour. When raw, these noodles are almost transparent, and they turn completely transparent when cooked. Khanom Salim is a Thai dessert that requires mung bean flour and cannot be substituted. Khanom Salim is sweet mung bean threads in syrup with coconut milk on top. It is served cold with ice. The mung bean thread is colored with natural colors like Flower of Chitoria Tematea Linn (Dok Un Chun) yielding a blue or lac (krang) yielding a red.

Cassave Starch (paeng mun)

Cassave starch is often called tapioca starch (paeng sa koo). It is a refined white flour which is made from cassava root. Cassave starch is very finely textured, and is a common substitute for arrowroot starch and cornstarch. Cassave starch is gluten-free and easy to digest. It is often added to gluten-free baking as a thickener. It is broadly used as a thickener for sauces, soups and desserts in Thailand. In desserts, cassave starch is almost always used in blends with other types of flour so that desserts are more soft and sticky than when using only one type of flour.

Corn Starch (paeng khao pod)

Corn starch is made from corn kernels and is finely textured. Corn starch is best dissolved in cold water. When cooking corn starch (with water on a stove), corn starch tends to form lumps. Thus, it is important to stir frequently on low heat. It is used as a thickener and used in blends with other types of flour like rice flour.

Arrowroot Starch (paeng thao yay mom)

Arrowroot Starch is made from the root of the marantha arundinacea. In Thailand, arrowroot starch consists of tiny white balls that must be ground before using. However, in some brands, arrowroot starch is a fine powder just like cassave starch. Arrowroot starch is a gluten-free flour that has no identifying taste or scent. It is used as a clear thickener with any mixture or in blends with other types of flour. Its thickening power is about twice that of cassave starch. Arrowroot starch is used in many Thai desserts.

Thais love desserts and they have been a part of our lives for a long time. Thai desserts cannot be perfected without attentive use of flour. For some desserts, some types of flour can be substituted for each other, but in other cases substitution is not advisable. Each type of flour has its own characteristics, which in some cases preclude substitution, depending on how they interact with the rest of the dessert. When making delicious authentic Thai desserts, it is more important to closely follow the recipe than it is for non-dessert kinds of dishes. Enjoy the many wonderful tastes and textures of Thai desserts!

Napatr Lindsley

All-Filipino Desserts

All Filipinos seem to be born with a sweet tooth, and most of us never really outgrow it. We're never too old for a candy bar or a rich filled doughnut. That's why desserts have always been a big part of Filipino cuisine. For many of us, a meal isn't a meal without something cold and sweet to top it off. It doesn't matter if your meal consists of rice and dried fish; without dessert, it's simply not complete.

However, our idea of dessert has evolved a lot through the years. Ask any kid what his favorite dessert is and he'll most likely say ice cream, cake, or something not really Filipino. If you think the same way, maybe it's time you tried the old favorites and rediscover Filipino food. Here's a quick guide to local desserts and some Filipino desserts recipes you can make on your own.

Rice cakes

With rice as our staple food, it's really no surprise that we'd turn it into a dessert as well. In fact, we have more than a dozen varieties of kakanin, the local term for rice desserts, most of them sold at practically every corner. Because they are rice-based, they are seldom eaten after regular meals (which already have rice as the main course). People prefer them for merienda in the late morning or afternoon. Some of the most popular Filipino rice cakes are puto, suman, biko, bibingka, and kalamay.

Native pastries

If you're looking for a lighter dessert, Filipino pastries may be just what you need. Our native pastries cover everything from small bite-size tarts to tropical fruit pies. They may seem complicated at first glance, but they are actually one of the easiest Filipino food recipes. In fact, if you're just starting out, pastries make a great beginner recipe. Start with simple snack tarts such as this one.

Easy Caramel Tarts

Ingredients:

1 tbsp flour

1 c milk

1 c golden syrup

1 c brown sugar

1 tbsp white sugar

1 tbsp butter

2 eggs, separated

½ tsp vanilla

Procedure: Beat the egg whites until stiff, then beat in the white sugar. Set aside. In a saucepan, combine the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Pour into baked pastry shells. Top with the egg white mixture and bake for about 10 minutes or until the meringue turns brown.

Puto and kutsinta

Puto a steamed cake made from rice flour, often topped with cheese or salted eggs. It is often sold with kutsinta, a brown jelly cake served with grated coconut. The two go together because the soft, grainy texture of the puto contrasts the tart smoothness of kutsinta. Both are among the simplest Filipino recipes; you can make a batch of each cake in less than two hours.

Puto

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

2 cups milk

6 tsps baking powder

3 eggs (use only egg whites for a lighter cake)

Procedure: Combine all the ingredients except the egg whites. Mix well and let stand for one hour, then fold in the eggs. Pour into baking pan or muffin pans and steam for about one hour.

Kutsinta

Ingredients:

1 cup rice flour

1 tsp lye water

3 cups water

2 cups packed brown sugar

Procedure: Mix all the ingredients in a bowl; beat well. Half-fill a muffin pan with the batter, then steam covered over 2 inches of water for about 30 minutes. Top with grated coconut.

Bibingka

Bibingka is actually an Indian dish (bebinca), but the Filipino variety is unique because it uses rice flour instead of white. It also comes with a variety of toppings such as butter or margarine, cheese, salted eggs, or grated coconuts. Bibingka is a popular snack in the Christmas season, where it is often sold with puto bumbong (same as puto, but cooked in bamboo vessels and flavored with coconut or purple yam)and other Filipino cooking recipes. It is traditionally cooked in charcoal ovens, which gives it a smoky flavor. Of course, you can also tweak the recipe and bake it in modern ovens. Here's how.

Ingredients:

2 c plain flour

¼ c baking powder

¾ c sugar

1 ¼ c coconut milk

3 eggs, beaten

½ c Edam cheese, grated

½ butter, melted

½ c grated coconut

1 tsp salt

Procedure: Preheat your oven to 375oF. In a bowl, dissolve the sugar in coconut milks and add in the eggs. In a separate bow, sift the flour, add the baking powder and salt, then sift again. Combine with the egg mixture and beat well. Pour into prepared pans and bake for about 15 minutes. Top with cheese and resume baking for another 20 minutes, brushing with margarine occasionally. Give it a final brush when done, and serve with coconut on the side.

Tasty Desserts - Delicious Carrot Cake Recipe

Carrot cakes are moist, dense cakes made with grated carrot. Carrots have long been used to sweeten foods when other sweeteners were scarce. They are most frequently frosted with cream cheese frosting and often decorated with frosting carrots.

Some carrot cakes also have optional ingredients added, such as pineapple, coconut, raisins, or nuts. Unlike most cakes, carrot cakes are made more like sweet bread. Carrot cakes have been popular since the 1960s in America, although they have been made in one form or another since Medieval times.

It seems this cake is something you either love or hate. Most people seem to take offense at the optional ingredients more than the cake itself. If you find you have picky eaters at your table, try making a plain carrot cake without nuts or any other added ingredients. You will most likely find that suddenly your picky eater will dig in with gusto. If you like the nuts and such, you can always add them to the frosting at the end when you are serving. This way everyone can enjoy the cake with all the trimmings that they like.

Recipe for Carrot Cake

This moist, delicious cake is perfect for a spring gathering.

What You Need

3 cups all purpose flour
2-3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons kosher salt
4 eggs, beaten
1-1/2 cups vegetable oil
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups carrot, finely grated
2 jars carrot puree (4 oz each) from the baby food aisle

Frosting

3-1/2 cups powdered sugar
12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt

How to Make It

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Position rack in the center of the oven. Spray two 9 inch round cake pans with cooking spray.

Whisk the flour, granulated sugar, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda together in a mixing bowl. Using a separate bowl, whisk eggs, oil, and vanilla together. Add to the dry ingredients. Beat on low for a minute. Add in the grated carrots and carrot puree. Stir until just mixed.

Pour the batter into the oiled cake pans. Bake about 40 to 45 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean. When done, move the pans to a wire rack and let them cool completely.

For the frosting, sift the powdered sugar into a medium bowl and set it aside. In another bowl, mix the cream cheese, vanilla, butter, and salt together, scraping the mixture off the sides of the bowl. Mix until smooth. Add the powdered sugar a little bit at a time, beating until the frosting is light and fluffy.

Place one layer on a platter. Use one third of the frosting on the top. Place the second layer on top, flat side up. Spread another third of the icing over the top and the final third around the sides. Decorate if you wish.

Austin Restaurant Desserts

www.chez-zee.com Chez Zee American Bistro has a complete in house dessert bakery. Chez Zee has won many awards for our desserts,like Lemon rosemary cake, Coco Tres Leches Cake, Chocolate Decadence, Fresh fruit Bavarian Cheesecake. We have won best desserts in Austin many time. Our fabulous desserts are available by the slice any time and are available whole with 48 hours notice. We are open late on Friday and Saturday, till midnight, and till 10PM the rest of the week. So come by for late night dessert anytime.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Rbla6YqtN8&hl=en

Food and Drink Paradise - Sugar Free Desserts Challenge!

Are you looking for a new challenge? How about creating some easy and delicious dessert recipes for the special diet people? Some sugar free recipes ideas will be great. A project was given to a group of new students in an cooking class. Vanessa is the organiser for this project. She told the class to sit down and start a brainstorm exercise over this topic.

After an hour, came a young lady with some wonderful sugar free dessert recipes.

"Class, stay quiet!" Vanessa said to the class. "Shall we see what she has created for us?"

Boiled Custard

Ingredients

250g dates
500 ml milk
1/8 teaspoon salt
Action
a. Cut the dates into small pieces.
b. Add milk and salt.
c. Cook it in a double boiler for about 1 hour, till thick.
Coconut Pudding

Ingredients
200g desiccated coconut
250g dates
1 egg (well beaten)
500 ml milk
Action
a. Stone dates and fill a shallow pudding dish with alternate layer of coconut and dates.
b. Add egg and milk and pour this over the coconut and dates mixture.
c. Bake in 180°C oven for a nice brown.

Date Cream

Ingredients
500g whipped cream
250 ml milk
1 tablespoon gelatine
200g ground dates
Action
a. Soak gelatine in half of the milk.
b. Whip cream stiff.
c. Boil remaining milk and add gelatine.
d. Let cool, then beat till it begins to thicken.
e. Stir in whipped cream and mix well.
f. Pour into a mould and serve with whipped cream heaped around.

Thank you class! Should we have more sugar free dessert recipes challenge in our coming lesson?

Little Known Exotic Asian Desserts - Malay Kuih

An American friend on a visit to Singapore some time back stumbled upon colourful and delicious gooey desserts which he had never tasted or heard before. I said to him those were called Kuih or sometimes spelt as kueh, and these kuihs originated from the Malays, a race of people from Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.

My friend thought it remarkable that these kuihs were little known to the western world, especially in the USA and Europe, where people love cheesecakes and puddings and fudge, they too would love to not only eat these kuihs, but make them as well. And so of course I packed for him a nice box of kuih as a gift when he left which I am sure he must have eaten them all at the airport.

If you must know, these kuihs were created in the deep Malay villages by resourceful grandmothers who created recipes made from whatever ingredients that were available then like tapioca flour, palm sugar, coconut milk, glutinuous rice, green beans, banana leaves, pandan leaves etc. And of course they had plain flour and sugar as well. They did not have ovens back then, so these kuihs were mostly steamed or grilled.

The end results are moist, rich, chewy desserts and for those that have palm sugar in them, would guarantee the equivalent of chocolate melt. And the colours will make any chef pleased and happy.

The kuih recipes had since then travelled from the deep villages of Indonesia and Malaysia when our forefathers migrated to the cities and other countries.

Today Malay kuih recipes have expanded into many versions but essentially using the base ingredients like coconut milk, sugar (white or brown),eggs, flour (several types), just like western desserts must have their butter, sugar, eggs and cake flour.

But that is not all. Variety is indeed the spice of life, no pun intended - these kuihs also come in savoury version where spices are sometimes added and eaten as snacks or in between meals. In fact, Asians eat sweet or savour desserts for breakfast, as snacks, at teatime or just in between meals. Or served to guests whenever they drop in.

I especially love Kuih Pulut Panggang where grated coconut cooked with spice is wrapped around steamed glutinuous rice and then wrapped in banana leaf and grilled. Imagine the smell and taste contrast of the plain glutinuous rice and the spicy coconut, heightened by the smell of banana leaf.

Many people have made a living from making and selling these kuihs, some at the back streets, at the market and little dessert stores. These days hotel chefs have started to serve them at functions and catering businesses have thrived as well.

Another friend recently arrived in Singapore and I got him about 8 different pieces of kuih. He said he couldn't possibly finish them all and would share with his room mates. But he ended eating them all because they all tasted deliciously and interestingly different.

Look out for the next article where I will share more information, tips and recipes of this glorious and exotic dessert called Malay Kuih.