Black and white cheesecake with a touch of coconut

Black and white cheesecake with a touch of coconut

Cake pan: 40 x 26 cm, minimum depth - 5 cm

Crust:

400g flour 
20 g (3 tablespoons) of cocoa
1 / 8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
50 g (8 tbsp) unsweetened coconut flakes
100 g sugar
250 g cold butter
2 egg yolks

 Filling:

1 kg quark cheese 20% fat  (I've used the German Speisequark)

400 g cream cheese Philadelphia type


50 g unsweetened coconut flakes


315 g (1 1 / 2 cup) sugar


1 tablespoon grated orange peel

4 egg yolks

100 g butter, melted

40 g (1 pack) vanilla pudding powder (eg. Dr Oetker)



6 egg whites


pinch of salt

70 g sugar

Crust:

Sift flour, cocoa and baking powder. Add salt, sugar and coconut and cubed cold butter. Rub butter into flour until it get crumbly. Add egg yolks (all egg whites keep for the filling) and knead the dough into a ball. Divide the dough into 2 parts (the part that goes to the bottom should be slightly bigger). Wrap in foil and place in fridge for at least 1 hour.

 Filling:

Preheat the oven to 170 º C. Mix cheese with 315 g of sugar, orange peel and coconut. Add one egg yolk while still whisking. Mix in cooled melted butter and pudding powder. Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt and 70 grams of sugar until very stiff. Stir white eggs gently with a spatula into the cheese mixture.

   Grate the bigger part of the dough onto the bottom of the cake pan. Lightly press it with your hands. Pour the cheese filling. On top grate the rest of the dough. Bake for approximately 1 hour. Cool in the oven.

Enjoy !

Portuguese style cheesecake

This wonderful dessert is very popular and widely available in almost every restaurant and coffee shop in Portugal. 

The taste of cheese is very subtle, if at all, perceptible. For some time I even thought  it was a cheesecake without cheese. ;) The filling is delicious - fluffy and creamy, almost like a mousse. It is made with Philadelphia cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk and heavy cream. My version is a little bit less sweet than the original.

For the glaze I used blueberry pie filling which is very unusual in Portugal. A strawberry or blackberry jam spread on the top of the cheesecake is preferred in the classic version.

Enjoy !

Portuguese cheesecake

spring cake pan  25 cm of diameter

Crust:
150 g digestive biscuits
30 g (2 tablespoons) soft butter

 Filling:
400 g (1 and 1 / 4 cup = 310 ml) sweetened condensed milk
200 g (7oz) cream cheese
600 ml (20 fl oz = 1 and 1/2 cup) heavy cream, 35% fat 

 seeds scraped of 1/2 vanilla bean
5 gelatine leaves
4 tablespoons milk

Glaze:
1 can (15 oz) blueberry pie filling

or

1 jar of blueberry compote, bluberries in brine
corn starch for thickening

Crust:
Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Crush  biscuits with butter in food processor. Spread the crumbs in the springform pan. You may press them a little with the bottom of a glass. Bake the crust for 10 min. Cool it down. 

Filling:
In the medium bowl mix the condensed milk with cream cheese and vanilla. In a large bowl whip the heavy cream until stiff. Soak gelatin leaves in water, drain them and dissolve in 4 tbsp of milk on a very low heat (do not allow it to boil). Pour lukewarm gelatin in a thin stream into whipped cream beating constantly. Mix the cream cheese and condensed milk with cream until you obtain a smooth filling. Pour the filling on the crust and leave overnight in the fridge to set.

Glaze: 

If you are using the pie filling simply pour it onto the filling. 

If using the compote: Dissolve the cornstarch in several tbsps of water. Pour this mixture into the boiling fruit compote. Cook 1-2 min until it thickens, stirring continuously. Quantity of starch depends on the amount of liquid you have, and of course on how thick you want your  glaze. It is good idea to mix some tbsps of cornstarch in water and add this mixture gradually to the fruits. When cooled pour the glaze onto the filling.

Triple chocolate cheesecake

First cheesecake this year. My "cheesecake monsters" (my husband and son) were already craving it so much I had to make it.  

This cheesecake is made of three chocolate layers.  Dark chocolate gives it an intense flavour that stays in contrast with subtle milk and white chocolate fillings. I used German quark (fresh and soft curd cheese). It is called topfen in Austria, serek homogenizowany in Poland, queijo fresco batido in Portugal or fromage frais in France. Quark can be easily substituted by cream cheese (because the latter is thicher you should add 3 extra tablespoons of sour cream to the filling).  

Triple chocolate cheesecake
 

23 cm (9 inches) spring cake pan


Crust:
150 g (5.5 oz) chocolate cookies
50 g (about 3 tablespoons) butter, softened



Filling:
1 kg (35 oz = 2.2 pounds ) quark cheese (20% fat content)
150 g (5.5 oz = 2/3 cup) sugar
25 g (about 3 tablespoons) cornstarch

4 eggs
150 ml (5 fl oz = 2/3 cup) sour cream
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

100 g (3.5 oz) dark chocolate
100 g (3.5 oz) milk chocolate
100 g (3.5 oz) white chocolate
4 tablespoons single cream (15% or more fat content) 


Crust:
Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Crush cookies with butter in a food processor to make fine crumbs. Press the crumbs onto the bottom of spring cake pan (previously lined with baking paper or aluminium foil, just to be sure that nothing leaks through) with the aid of the bottom of a cup. Bake for 10 - 12 min.

Filling:
Beat cheese with sugar and cornstarch until smooth. With the mixer still running add eggs one at a time, then sour cream and vanilla extract. Mix briefly, only to combine the ingredients. 


Preheat the oven to 180ºC. In 3 medium bowls melt 3 types of chocolate with single cream added, starting with white, then milk and finally dark (to white and milk chocolate add 1 tablespoon of cream, to the dark one 2 tablespoons). This can be done in "bain marie" or in a microwave (I melt my chocolate at 360 W in 50 seconds, take it out and mix it energetically to melt completely). 


Leave melted chocolate to cool a little. To each bowl with chocolate add gradually about 1/3 of cheese filling(it was about 500 g of added filling to each bowl ) and whisk througoutly until smooth. Initially it may seem that you finish with lumps of chocolate in filling, but they all disappear as you whisk. 


Pour the white chocolate filling onto the cooled crust. Then, very carefully and evenly, spoon the milk chocolate filling and spread it gently to create a second layer. Next goes the dark chocolate filling and you get a third layer. 


Bake in the oven for 15 minutes at 180ºC, lower the temperature to 160°C and continue to bake for 1 hour - 1 hour 15 minutes , until it is set on the sides and a little shiny and moist in the center. Turn the oven off and leave the cake to cool inside with the door slightly open.