Little Ivy Cakes

Mini Banana Cream Cheesecakes 

with Bavarian cream

I am really enjoying the elegant and sophisticated idea of Mini cheesecakes. And so far, I have made it a reality twice. With Mini Red Velvets and now with Banana Creams. Being able to individualize each dessert is so much fun and you don't have to worry about slicing the cheesecake with the knife in water thing to make the slices look pretty.

So if you want to give mini cheesecakes a try but you don't want to buy 12 mini cheesecake spring-form cake pans at $6.95 a pop. Do what I do, and use ramekins. I understand you may think this is too much work, but it's really not and you can pre-prep all this before you start making a mess in the kitchen with the cream cheese. I think it's worth it because you can buy a 4 pack of ramekins for around $4.00-$6. Say you needed to serve 12 people...it would cost you $18.00 BUT, if you bought fancy spring forms it would cost you $83.40. So you are saving $65 bucks! Plus I have accumulated my ramekins over time, so I didn't have to go out and buy all them at once.

Did  I convince you to read ahead on how to do this? :)
Good, Ok so....
-Trace the size of your ramekin on parchment paper with a penscil, then stack 12 square pieces of parchment and cut away with your shape. Make sure to cut just inside the pencil line.

-Then cut out strips of parchment paper as well that are long enough to stick out of your ramekin an inch or so on each side.

-Place strip in the ramekin and crease if needed. Then fold teh tabs back around this lip (like seen in the third pic down from here)

-Then place your circle in the ramekin on top of your strip.

-Then place ramekins in an a baking pan lined with aluminum foil. Place pan on oven wrack and pour boiling water until half way up your ramekin. place sheet of aluminum foil over pan and bake at 350 for 15 mins then at 200 for 45 mins or until center only slightly jiggles. Let cool. Then Chill overnight or freeze for half hour to hour. When the cakes are well chilled they are easier to handle and pop out of the ramekin.

-Carefully run knife around edges and gently pop the cake out.

 For the molding of the Bavarian cream, surround the cheesecake with a folded strip of aluminum foil or a plastic mold piece if you want to get profesh and have smoother lines.

-Pour 1/4 cup Bavarian cream on top of each cheesecake and chill for 3 hours. (wow, you can tell I didn't do a white balance on these next pics. Yikes.)

-Then take off aluminum foil gently and smooth edges of cakes with a butter knife.

Decorate with toasted coconut shavings, chocolate, and bruleed banana slices.
Oh and if you are looking for some cheesecake tips, I posted some with the Mini Red Velvet Cheesecake Recipe.
THE END!