Baked Tiramisu Cheesecake recipe.

Hi there foodie fam!

Welcome back to my recipe blog.

This weeks recipe is for a baked cheesecake based on one of my favourite puddings, tiramisu.

Tiramisu is a similar pud to our own English sherry trifle but instead of sherry soaked cake, fruit ( jelly or compote) a layer of custard, then cream topping it is made with, arguably, slightly more sophisticated ingredients like espresso coffee, brandy, ricotta or mascarpone and "lady finger" biscuits. It's very rich and usually quite boozy and is a perfect  way to finish off a good Italian meal.

To turn this classic Italian pud into a baked cheesecake is really easy to do. In fact you can pretty much make a baked cheesecake out of lots of things you may never had thought of. I myself make a fantastic rose scented Turkish delight cheesecake using the standard ingredients for baking a cheesecake, that is, biscuits for the base and cream cheese, ricotta or mascarpone mixed with eggs, sugar and a little flour for the topping,  but adding rose water and chunks of Turkish delight to the mix before baking. Or, as those of you who know me will confirm, even chocolate and beetroot baked cheesecake! ( one of the dishes I did on Masterchef.) which actually worked pretty well.

 By the way, as I have a new laptop and have dug out my Masterchef DVD I am going to be putting up an edited video of my time on the show in a few weeks, so look out for that!

Anyway, back to the recipe, and I'd like to give you a few little hints to get the best results.

Firstly, if you can, please use freshly brewed coffee. If you have a cafetiere or one of those little metal coffee pots you put on the stove then make your coffee for this recipe in that. A lot of recipes on the Internet will tell you to use instant coffee granules and while this is okay, I think it makes the finished cake a little bitter. As a rule of thumb I would say that if you normally drink instant coffee then it'll be fine but if you like the taste of fresh brewed coffee put that in instead. Whichever coffee you use though, make sure it's very strong. You want the taste of the coffee to be the most dominant flavour in the finished pud.

Secondly, you can use any type of soft cream cheese for the topping. I have used 2x250g tubs of supermarket own brand cream cheese and one 250g tub of ricotta. This is mainly to keep costs down but if you'd like to use all ricotta or all mascarpone then go ahead!

Thirdly, unless you are a brandy connoisseur and can tell your XO from your cheapo, then I would use the cheapest brandy you can get. Make sure it is actually proper brandy though as I've seen something called "BRANDX" (crafty, eh? ) which is only about 20% proof and tastes horrible! Also if you like a really boozy pud then you can add a bit more brandy to the mix. Don't overdo it though as too much will stop the topping from setting properly and may even cause the mixture to split.

Finally, when you bake your cheesecake it should still have a little wobble to it if you give it a gentle shake. As it cools the topping will carry on cooking and will set perfectly. if you over bake it the topping will end up being a little "chalky" and you don't want that after your hard work, now do you?

Okay then, enough small talk, lets get to this weeks recipe!

Baked Tiramisu Cheesecake Recipe ( makes about 10 good portions. )

Equipment:

Large mixing bowl.

Balloon whisk.

10 inch springform cake tin.

greaseproof paper.

Rolling pin.

Zip lock freezer bag.

Small plastic microwave-able tub.

Metal tablespoon.

Ingredients:

225g of  dark chocolate digestive biscuits.

60g of  melted butter plus a little extra for greasing the cake tin.

1 shot of very strong espresso coffee, or 1 tablespoon of instant coffee granules made up with about 50ml of boiling water.

50ml of brandy.

500g of cream cheese.

250g of ricotta cheese.

125g of caster sugar.

25g of plain flour.

100g of good quality 70% cocoa chocolate, broken into pieces.

3 medium eggs.

1 medium egg yolk.

Method:

pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees c/ gas mark 4.

Put the biscuits into the zip lock bag, squash out the air and seal up.

Roll the rolling pin over the bag to crush the biscuits. ( I don't crush them too much as I like a little bit of variety in texture but you can crush them completely if you prefer.)














 Line the cake tin with greaseproof paper and rub all over with a little butter. Trim off the excess greaseproof with a knife or pair of scissors.

 Pour the crushed biscuits into a mixing bowl and add the melted butter. Mix together thoroughly then put the mix into the bottom of the cake tin and press down with the back of a spoon to form the base.

Try to keep the biscuit mix as even as possible over the bottom of the tin. Smooth over with the spoon.

Put the cake tin with the biscuit base in the oven for about 5 minutes then remove and either chill in the fridge, or, even better,  pop it in the freezer whilst you make the filling.

 Put the ricotta, the cream cheese and the sugar in the mixing bowl and cream together with a spoon. Then add the flour and beat the mix until smooth.

 In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and egg yolk together and then stir into the beaten cheese and sugar. Once combined give them a bit of a whisk to make sure there's no streaks of egg through the mix.

 When the eggs and cheese are mixed add the coffee and, once again, stir in then whisk.

 Add the brandy and mix in thoroughly.
















Remove the cake tin from the fridge or freezer and pour on half of the filling.















Now, melt the chocolate in the small plastic tub in the microwave, on defrost, until its just melted. This should take about 2 minutes.








Pour the melted chocolate all over the bottom half of the filling in the cake tin. You can either gently swirl it about with a spoon to get a marbled effect or you can leave it as it is.

 

Pour on the remaining filling. If some of the chocolate comes to the top then you can have a mess about with the back of a spoon to get a nice streaked effect. Try and remove any chocolate that has crept to the edge of the tin as it will burn and taste bitter when the cheesecake is baked.












Put the cheesecake in the bottom of the oven. As you can see I use an oven thermometer to make sure the temperature is right. I've also put an oven shelf above the cheesecake so that if it starts to brown too much I can put a baking sheet on the shelf to prevent the top burning.

Bake for about 50 minutes. There should still be a little wobble to it when it's done. Don't worry too much about the top being a little dark, it's not burnt, it's just where the chocolate has come to the surface.

When you are satisfied it is done turn off the oven and open the door but leave the cheesecake in there to cool slowly, as this will prevent the top from cracking too much.

Leave it like this in the oven for about 30 minutes, then remove from the oven and run a knife around the edge of the tin to release your tiramisu cheesecake. Allow to cool on your work surface for about another 30 minutes, then cover with cling film or foil and chill in the fridge until you are ready to serve.


To serve you can dust the top with a little icing sugar mixed with cocoa powder and perhaps a lick of double cream. This cake is perfect as an afternoon treat with a cup of fresh coffee.

Hope you enjoyed this weeks recipe!
As it's getting a little cooler outside and Autumn is well and truly upon us my next recipe blog is going to be for a good old hearty British family staple, shepherd pie. I don't know if I'm going to have time to do it this weekend as essential maintenance is required on my scooter but I'll try to fit it in if I can.

Until next time then blog buddies,

Happy cooking!

 

Mat.