This was meant to be my main contribution to the Christmas Day feast, a white chocolate cheesecake, the recipe (here) for which leapt off the page and screamed “You HAVE to make ME!!!” when I found it in a magazine.
And who am I to refuse the demands of print on glossy paper?
I normally don’t like cheesecake — I find it too rich and almost cloying — but this was delicious. It was smooth and velvety in the mouth with a very subtle lemon tang and the richness was cut through by the tartness of the raspberry and passionfruit topping. And there was no biscuit base, which cut down on both the sugar and the fat and made the whole seem somewhat lighter.
I’m surprised that it turned out as well as it did but I won’t be admitting that to my family. Or at least to the family who weren’t present when I was making it. They’ll never know that:
- I had to get my mother to show me how to use her mixer. It is the first, and only time, a kitchen appliance has utterly defeated me.
- I neglected to melt the chocolate prior to starting and it was added to the mixture HOT not lukewarm like the recipe insisted.
- The white chocolate nearly didn’t make it into the finished product — in an effort to cool down the chocolate quickly I sat the HOT glass bowl in a pan of COLD water. Guess what happened…
- I put it in the oven without doing a last check of the recipe.
- At the end of forty minutes it was still too wobbly and I realised I’d forgotten the bain marie.
- After three additional 15 minute sessions in a bain marie and the oven D, my cheesecake loving husband, told me it was cooked through and ready for cooling down.
Most of those “errors” I can put down to cooking in an unfamiliar kitchen. It’s funny how not being able to find a scraper can lead me into forgetting the most basic of kitchen techniques and complete disarray.
But it was worth the effort and the “errors” didn’t appreciably affect the result.
“This is GOOD — and believe me, I know cheesecakes.” Brother-in-law who has very high cheesecake standards.
“Can I have the recipe or are you keeping it to yourself??” Sister as she debated a second piece and the advisability of exposing her breastfeeding son to the eggs which could trigger an allergic reaction. She had a second piece and didn’t breastfeed him that day.
“Bugger the diet, I’m having another piece!” My lovely husband.
It definitely looks yummy.
May I have another slice?
Well, I guess I can’t very well have another slice if I have yet to have a first, but you prolly understand what I’m trying to say.
Hrm, I can definitely see an exchange going on here for the travels to the wilds of the American Midwest:
Baking – Bed – Baking – Use of Car – Baking…. the possibilities are endless!
Is there anything better than an appreciative audience to get you over the stress of catering for large numbers for Christmas lunch?
Believe me, that cheesecake is jumping off the screen at me and saying: “Have a slice of me now!!”
Also, your “errors” sound like a good day in the kitchen for me! I am the person who once set fire to a pan of spaghetti.
Eeh, you know, I’m also really worried about Kiko having a possible allergic reaction to eggs. I still haven’t given him any and screen all his food. He steals cakes and biscuits off people and guzzles them down with no signs of a reaction but I still worry! One day I’m going to have to take a deep breath and give him boiled egg and soldiers.
M: I certainly do understand what you were trying to say and, believe me, it tasted as good as it looked. Also, I wonder what possibilities would present themselves if I threw some home-made gnocchi with butter and sage sauce or some chilli quail into the mix? Hmm?? I’m also crazy good at babysitting
Miss S: Nothing better that I can think of. Mmm… must cook for Miss S again. Soon.
Helen: Cooking is my thing, I suppose, like writing is for others. I love being in the kitchen, creating something from sometimes nothing and, most of all, I love feeding people. And I find that it usually comes fairly easily — when I’m in my own kitchen.
My nephew is also allergic to peanuts and possibly dairy, poor kid. His mother hopes that he’ll grow out of the eggs and dairy because she’s sick of not being able to eat so many things. Until then it’s a matter of screening not only what he eats but what she eats as well, which makes cooking for her a challenge. But it really comes down to ensuring that her son is safe — none of us want to give him (or her) anything that could trigger a reaction.
I had considered the babysitting portion, but I wasn’t sure I’d foist some terribly warped baaby onto you. I usually reserve that torture for family members.
And gnocci… quail… Yum. No wonder I have a hard time keeping weight off — I think I enjoy food too much. You’re wicked, you are — wicked.
Recipes, my dear, recipes…. You know where to send them if you really want to to get me writhing on the floor in ecstatic glee.
My! I’m afraid I may have revealed too much about my motivations just now.
Shutting up…
it looks WONDERFUL. Given that I have no idea what ‘bain marie’ is or means or how it exists in the world, I am extremely impressed. I’ve never made cheesecake before as I’m initimidated by the spring form pan. Is bain marie the same thing as a spring form pan?
Courtney: Oops…A bain marie is a pan filled with hot water into which other containers are placed to stay warm or cook. You’d have seen them at buffets or restaurants that have serve yourself bars. A springform pan is a pan in two pieces: the bottom and side, which has a spring latch which is released when cooking has finished to remove the side and leave the cake sitting on the base.
Cooking has it’s own language and I forget sometimes that other people might not be as conversant as I am in it.
M: Terribly warped baby? Not a problem — you haven’t met my nephews, have you?
Recipes for cheesecake and gnocchi should be in your inbox.
Yummy! I will have Misha film it with my mobile as soon as I can convince her to make it.
Thank you thank you thank you.
OK, that cheesecake is right up my street – it looks beautiful. In my (huge cheesecake-making of two) experience, they seem quite hardy. Will you be sharing the recipe?