Baking with Joy at Istanbul Culinary Institute

Craving NY-style cheesecake, but don't think you can make the same thing with Turkish ingredients?

Well, you would be wrong.

It takes a little improvisation, but you can make some of the moistest, creamiest NY-style cheesecake you've ever tasted outside of NYC here!

This coming Tuesday, Aug. 28, I will teach you how to make NY-style cheesecake and three other recipes at the Istanbul Culinary Institute in Beyoğlu.

NY-style Cheesecake topped with a lemon curd glaze. You can learn both of these recipes next week with me at the Istanbul Culinary Institute.

This hands-on class will run 7-10 p.m. I do teach the class in English, but there is a Turkish translator who helps me if you speak Turkish. Please call 0212-251-2215 if you would like to attend; or check the Institute's web site for more information about the classes.

At the end of baking, mixing and stirring, we finally get to sit down with a glass of wine or tea and enjoy our desserts together. Each participant also is able to take some of the desserts home!

Who could resist this sinfully rich American chocolate cake called Devil's Food Cake?

This past Christmas, I made the Devil's Food Cake with chocolate mousse filling with my niece when we visited North Carolina.

To make the cake kid-friendly at Christmas, we decorated it with a creamy frosting and colorful
red and green sugar crystals.

And you'll even learn how to make a dark chocolate mousse that can be used as a filling for the cake, as pictured, or simply served in a parfait glass.

The tangy lemon curd that you will learn in class can be used as a glaze for all kinds of baked desserts as well as a filling for lemon tarts!

You can find my lemon tarts for sale at Denizen Coffee in Sultanahmet in Istanbul.

Earlier this month, I even took a Turkish cooking class at the Institute with Ozlem of Ozlem's Turkish Table. See post and photos at Turkish Cooking with a Chef, Blogger in Istanbul. It was a tasty, fun experience! I highly recommend stopping by someday.

If you can't take this class with me next week, hopefully you can join me another time. Or keep a look out for other cooking classes that might interest you! It's a great activity to do with your girlfriends or with your significant other.

Afiyet olsun!