Japanese Cheesecake Recipe

Love cheesecake, but hate feeling the guilt of eating heavy, regular cheesecake? Then this is the recipe for you!

Light, fluffy melt-in-your-mouth cake with all the goodness of cheesecake, but without the heaviness

> Origin: Japanese
> Cost: Moderate - Expensive (depending on your budget)
> Ease: Moderate to Difficult

 I've always loved Japanese cheesecake. Although I love western-style cheesecake a lot, I often find that they are too heavy and leave me feeling bloated and guilty. Japanese cheesecake really is a LOT lighter. It's texture is somewhat like a spongecake-- very light, fluffy, and the best part is... it still tastes like regular cheesecake! It's great when you just want a snack and you can cut yourself a slice and munch on it :) ! However, like all cheesecakes, Japanese cheesecakes are pretty delicate and because this isn't as heavy as a regular cheesecake, there needs to be a lot of moisture when baking. I've tried this recipe twice. The first time, I was using a springform pan and immerse it in water... without wrapping it in tin foil. BAD IDEA. The bottom came out very soggy and some of the batter leaked, though it still tasted great. The second time, I filled a pan full of water and placed it on a rack beneath the cheesecake while it baked, but the result was too dry and the top of the cheesecake cracked. Basic cake making skills would definitely be an asset :) 

Now this recipe... was modified from another site and pasted into a Word document for easy printing... I don't have the site bookmarked or written down, so if you recognize the recipe from somewhere, just leave the site in the comments so I can give them credit for a great recipe! :)

Chocolate Banana Cake Recipe

Decadent chocolate cake with the deliciousness of bananas <3 

Rich and moist chocolate cake baked with fragrant mashed bananas and melted chocolate chips, topped with a creamy chocolate ganache

> Origin: Chocolate
> Cost: Cheap
> Ease: Easy

Who doesn't love chocolate cake? Honestly, this is a REALLY rich chocolate cake. This is kind of just a basic chocolate cake recipe you can find anywhere on the internet, with some bananas and chocolate chips added in. *I got the adding in small chocolate chips from a site, but I can't remember for the life of me. If I find, I shall link you guys!* I found that the banana taste was a bit too weak, so next time I make it, I think I'll be more generous with the bananas, since banana chocolate cake is awesome. I might also do a layer cake, in which there's a center chocolate banana mixture for texture-sake. I loved the chocolate ganache, and I tend to make it and just pour like crazy whenever I make chocolate cakes now. I did make a mistake of pouring it on too soon with the first cake I made, it's a lot better to let it cool so it thickens a bit more, so it doesn't all pour off onto the plate :P !