I made two cakes for a shower today.  One was the manhattan coconutcake from RHC, the second was the Cordon rose cheesecake, TCB, with the white choco., with a lime curd glaze and whipped cream.  They were received very well and just as Rose said in the cake bible, someone said “its very good and I normally don’t like cheesecake”.

this is the second time i’ve made the coconut cake and have a question about the creme anglais.  What should the finished consistancy resemble?  I think mine was too hard.

also, the cheesecake recipe is for an 8 inch pan.  How can I expand the recipe for a nine inch pan?

I do think this is the nicest cc recipe I’ve ever used.  The ratio of sour cream to cream cheese produces a wonderful consistency.

Hi, Birthdaycake!

Well, that is one shower I’m sorry I missed!!!  That cheesecake sounds like an unbelievable combo!

I haven’t made the coconut cake before, but I have made the creme anglais for SMBC, which thi scake uses, and mine was about the consistency of melted ice cream. It’s funny to hear that you think yours came out too hard—I was super-paranoid that mine was too thin, until I read that it’s consistency was correct.  Quite freaked me at the time, though, I assure you.

As to the cheesecake, both the RHC Cranberry Crown Cheesecake and the Cinger Cheesecake use the Cordon Rose Cheesecake as a base. They use the exact amounts—but the Cranberry Crown bakes it in 9” and the Ginger Cheesecake bakes it in your choice of 8” or 9”, so it looks like you can bake it in any size, although it will be a bit flatter.  Of course, the ladyfingers in the cranberry crown take up some dimensional width, but the gingerbread cookies are rolled to 1/8”, so they can’t take up that much dimensional width, even after baking.  In teh pictures, the gingerbread looks a bit taller than the cranberry, so it looks like you have some flexibility in pan size—especially if you have a crust of some kind.

I hopw that’s helpful! 

Your baking has inspird me to make the ginger cheesecake with the white chocolate frosting and a lemon curd topping!  Thank you!

—ak