Whilst at home this week, I went to visit one of my old work friends, Ellie. We got chatting about the old days and how university is going for us both and we got onto the topic of my blog. All of these memories started popping up from back when we used to cook and bake together all the time! One particular memory that came up on the topic of cheesecake was from one of our shifts at work. A member of staff had called in sick which left only Ellie and myself running the restaurant where we used to work. It was manic. One of the busiest shifts ever and by the end we were exhausted! After we had closed, to cheer ourselves up we decided to pop across to Tesco's and buy some treats, one of which was a slice of chocolate cheesecake, and of course a bottle of wine. And I suddenly had the idea that a chocolate cheesecake is something I would love to attempt as it was so delicious! I began to search for a recipe, and hiding in the back of mum's cupboard was a recipe book from 1987 titled "The Colour Library Book of Creative Cooking." and the fact that it was named as a library, I thought I was sure to find a recipe in here...and I did!
Ingredients:
275g Bourbon biscuits, finely crushed.
150g butter, melted.
Filling: 225g cottage cheese
225g full fat soft cheese
50g caster sugar
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/4 teaspoon vanilla essence
300ml single cream
1 tablespoon powdered gelatine
3 tablespoons warm water
75g plain dessert chocolate, broken into pieces.
Method:
1. Mix the crushed biscuits with the butter. Press on to the base and sides of an oiled 8 inch loose bottomed cake tin. Cover and chill for 30 minutes until firm.
2. To make the filling : press the cottage cheese through a nylon sieve into a mixing bowl. Add the soft cheese and beat with a wooden spoon until well combined.
3. Add the sugar, lemon juice, vanilla and cream and mix well.
4. Sprinkle the gelatine over the water in a heatproof bowl. Leave to soak for 2-3 minutes until spongy. Place the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and stir until the gelatine has dissolved.
5. Remove from the heat, leave to cool slightly, the stir gradually into the cheese mixture.
6. Put the chocolate pieces in a heatproof bowl and place over a pan of gently simmering water. Heat until the chocolate has melted.
7. Pour the cheese mixture on top of the biscuit crust, then drizzle the melted chocolate over and swilr in with the point of a skewer.
9. Cover and chill for 3 hours.
This recipe I found was quite simple to follow and was laid out clearly and precisely in the book. One thing that caught my attention straight away was the fact that it said to use single cream. Given that the chocolate orange cheesecake I did previously was made using single cream and didn't set, I decided to adjust the recipe and substitute single cream for double. The biscuit base I thought was a wonderful idea as the cream from inside the bourbons added extra texture and flavour and was absolutely delicious. But although the flavour was perfect, I once again found that there was not enough biscuit base to do as instructed and press the biscuit up the sides of the tin as well as on the bottom.
However I was a little dubious about the idea of using cottage cheese. Cottage cheese is very lumpy so I was quite concerned about the texture this one might have. Even once I had pressed it through the sieve as told in the method, it still wasn't very smooth, but I hoped for the best and kept going. Once the soft cheese and the cream were mixed in it was all looking as I thought it should.
I am so glad i went for double cream rather than single as it set perfectly! I may try it one day with single cream, just to see if it would work as well. When it came to trying this cheesecake, I have to admit it is not one that I particularly like. I find the flavour from the cottage cheese much too strong and slightly bitter, but my dad and brother disagreed, it's going down very well with them! If I did make this again with the single cream, I think I would also be tempted to change the cottage cheese for more soft cheese instead.
One thing I particularly liked about the recipe itself was the little box at the top of the page titled "Cook's Notes". It includes lots of little tips to make the recipe successful as well as serving and freezing suggestions! I liked the idea of the serving suggestions :
But I decided to leave the cheesecake as it was as my family thought anymore flavour might be a little bit too much considering the chocolate base and the cottage cheese. I had a flick through the rest of the book and there is one on each page! It even tells you how many calories are in a slice of this cheesecake (but personally, I would rather not know that!)
"If liked, decorate the edge of the cheesecake with drained mandarin segments and sprinkle with chocolate vermicelli or strands. Instead of fruit sprinkle coarsely grated chocolate round the edge."
But I decided to leave the cheesecake as it was as my family thought anymore flavour might be a little bit too much considering the chocolate base and the cottage cheese. I had a flick through the rest of the book and there is one on each page! It even tells you how many calories are in a slice of this cheesecake (but personally, I would rather not know that!)
