Well... many things. Baking cheesecakes is one of them. The other is throwing myself around Europe as if I collected air-miles. If I did I would get myself some nice holidays by now, but the airlines I use would probably rather ask for air-miles from me than give me anything. What? You want to take this jumper with you on board? You realise that that's 100g over your luggage allowance! Pay us TWICE the price of your ticket and then board!! Luckily the alternative is to put the jumper on you. And to wear your camera as a novelty necklace. It is all worth it though, because it means you can go home where there is cheesecake to be baked and good conversation awaits.
Coffee Cheesecake (in collaboration with Limonka)
250g mascarpone
700g full-fat cream cheese (e.g. Philadelphia)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup sour cream
4 eggs
3 Tbs plain flour
1 Tbs vanilla extract
1 Tbs coffee liqueur (e.g. Tia Maria or Kahlua)
2 Tbs espresso
base:
250g digestive biscuits
100g melted butter
ganache:
100g dark chocolate and 30g white chocolate
1/3 cup double cream 3 Tbs double cream
Zap the biscuits in a blender until they are just fine crumbs and then add melted butter to them. Mix the two well together and then press the mixture onto the bottom of a pre-greased cake tin. Cover the tin with cling film and put in the fridge until the rest of the cake is ready. Pre-heat the oven to 170C.
The cheesecake will be happier if all of the ingredients are of the same temperature, it is therefore good to take them out of the fridge a bit before you commence the baking. Once they are the same temperature it is very easy to make the cake. Simply mix together the cheeses with sugar until smooth. Then crack in the eggs, one by one and mix well on medium speed if you have a stand-alone mixer. Once the eggs are stirred in and smooth add sour cream, coffee, liqueur and vanilla extract. Mix until the ingredients are just combined and smooth. Then sift in the flour and mix until just combined. If you do it for too long the cheese will be all runny.
Pour the cheese mixture onto the biscuit base and bake in a steam bath (the link will explain how to do it). Steam bathing the cheesecake will mean that it bakes but remains moist and wobbly instead of cracked and dry. Bake for about an hour until the cheesecake is hardened on the outside but still wobbly in the middle. Switch the oven off and let it stand in an open oven to cool.
When the cheesecake is cooling down make the ganache: heat up 1/3 cup of double cream and melt dark chocolate in it. Whisk it so it is smooth and even. In a separate pan melt the white chocolate in double cream. Once melted take them off the heat and wait until they are cooled down. Take the cooled cheesecake out of the oven (make sure it is room temperature! otherwise the ganache will melt on it!) and spoon the dark chocolate on top of it. Even the surface out and using a toothpick add spots of white chocolate ganache on top. Swirl the spots with the toothpick to make a pretty pattern. And ... voilà! Cheesecake done. Refrigerate it over night and serve on the next day to make the most of its creamy texture!
