What am I up to when I am not here

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!

Summer cheesecake

I know it is not strawberry season any more, but I do think this recipe is worthy of a note because it does make an AMAZING cheesecake. It may at first seem that it is going to be a fat/sugar overdose cake but trust me - it all works great together. And it is so good you will quickly forget about all the sugar and cream involved and will ask for another piece. And then another and another.

Also, it is the first time I steam bathed food in the oven. It is fiddly and it is stressful (well, it was for me) but well worth it. I made a beast of a cheesecake and felt like a pro in the kitchen once everything was done.

Strawberries and cream cheesecake 

(original recipe can be found in Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days book)

Base:
220g digestive biscuits
100g unsalted butter, melted

Topping:
200g fresh strawberries, hulled and chopped
(plus a bit more to decorate)
180g caster sugar
600g cream cheese
2 eggs
100g mascarpone
20g icing sugar
100ml double cream

Start with lining your cake tin with some baking paper. In a blender blend together digestives until they are just fine crumbs. Put them in a bowl and pour in the melted butter. Stir until the two ingredients are well mixed together. Put the mixture into the tin and press with the back of a spoon to form the base of the cake. Put in the fridge for half an hour to allow to set.

In the meantime put the strawberries in a saucepan with 80m of sugar and 30ml of water and bring it all to boil. Reduce the heat and cook until the liquid is reduced by half. I expected it to only take a few minutes but actually it took about 10. Watch out not to overcook the strawberries though - you don't want them to fall apart.

Preheat the oven to 160C. Beat together the cream cheese and the remaining sugar until smooth. Add yhe eggs one at a time and mix well. Now add the strawberries to the cheese mixture and stir them gently in.

Take the cake tin out of the fridge and wrap it tightly with cling film or tin foil on the outside - this is to make sure than no water leaks through into you cake whiles we give it a steam bath in the oven. We're steam-bathing it so that the cheesecake is moist and creamy. It also prevents it from cracking which cheesecakes like to do. Once wrapped, tip the cream cheese strawberry mix into the tin and place it on a baking tray (or a roasting tin) filled up with water. The water should be up to about 5mm away from the top of the cake tin.
Bake for about 30 minutes or until the top of the cake is firm but the middle is still wobbly. Allow the cake to set and cool in room temperature and once it's cooled put it in the fridge for at least an hour.

Beat the mascarpone with icing sugar and in a separate bowl mix whip the double cream until it forms soft peaks. Gently mix the two together, folding the cream into the mascarpone mixture. Tip the mascarpone mixture on top of the cheesecake and put it back in the fridge for a couple of hour before serving.

When serving garnish with the remaining strawberries. Enjoy and don't forget to share it with your friends - it will make them happy, I promise!