ScarlettChocolate Ricotta Cheesecake
April 17th 2008 14:24
Chocolate Ricotta Cheesecake
About Chocolate Ricotta Cheesecake
This cheesecake is not intensely ‘in-your-face’ chocolatey, but more subtle. The texture and the slightly acidity in the ricotta gives this an unusual edge and this, combined with the pure chocolate on top, is what makes it a very classy cheesecake.
About Grape-Nuts
Grape-Nuts is a breakfast cereal developed by C. W. Post in 1897. Post was a patient and later competitor of the 19th century breakfast food innovator, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg. Neither grapes nor nuts have ever been ingredients in the cereal. The original formula for Grape-Nuts called for grape sugar, which is composed mostly of glucose unlide most other sugar sources and food sweeteners which are principally sucrose. This, combined with the “nutty” flavour of the cereal inspired its name. But some employees at Post claim that the cereal got its name because the tiny nuggets resemble grape seeds or grape “nuts”.
Grape-Nuts was soon marketed as a natural cereal that could enhance health and vitality, and also as a “brain food”. During the 1960s, advertising for the brand promoted Grape-Nuts as the cereal that “fills you up, not out”. Brand users, particularly “mother/daughter look-alikes”, were shown engaged in fitness activities such as tennis, horseback riding, skiing, and swimming.
At ad campaign following the above utilized a similarly catchy phrase, as Euell Gibbons became the spokesperson for the brand, promoting Grape-Nuts as the “Back to Nature Cereal”. The line, “Ever eat a pine tree?”, proved to draw increased attention to the product from consumers, as well as from comedians of all sorts. Gibbons made the TV ads until he died on December 29, 1975.
INGREDIENTS
Serves 8 - 10
For the base
50 gm / 2 oz unblanched wholealmonds
175 gm / 6 oz plain chocolate oatmeal biscuits
25 gm / 1 oz Grape-Nuts cereal
50 gm / 2 oz butter, melted
For the cheesecake
150 gm / 5 oz dark chocolate with 70-75% cocoa solids, broken into small pieces
350 gm / 12 oz ricotta, at room temperature
200 ml / 7 fl oz half-fat crème fraîche, at room temperature
2 large eggs, separated
50 gm / 2 oz golden caster sugar
3 leaves gelatine
2 tablespoons milk
To decorate
110 gm / 4 oz dark chocolate with 70-75% cocoa solids, for the chocolate curls
For dusting
cocoa powder, sifted
For greasing
groundnut oil / other flavourless oil
1. Preheat the oven to 200ºC / 400ºF and lightly oiled sides and base of a 20 cm / 8 inch diameter springform tin.
2. For the cake base, spread the almonds out on a small baking sheet and toast them in the oven for 7 minutes, using a timer.
3. Chop the toasted almonds quite finely and set aside.
4. Place the biscuits in a plastic food bag and crush them, using a rolling pin, and, tip the crumbs into a mixing bowl.
5. Add in the chopped nuts and Grape-Nuts cereal.
6. Add in the melted butter to bind it together.
7. Press the mixture into the base of the cake tin, then pop it into the oven and bake for 10 minutes, and then remove and leave to cool.
8. Meanwhile, make the cheesecake. Melt the 150 gm / 5 oz of dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water, making sure the base of the bowl doesn’t touch the water.
9. Remove from the heat and let cool as well.
10. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the ricotta, crème fraîche, egg yolks and sugar until smooth and well blended.
11. Soak the leaves of gelatine in a small bowl of cold water for about 5 minutes.
12. At the same time, heat the milk in a small saucepan up to simmering point before taking it off the heat.
13. Squeeze the excess water from the gelatine, then add it to the milk and whisk until it has dissolved.
14. Stir the gelatine and milk, along with the cooled chocolate, into the ricotta mixture, until it is all thoroughly blended.
15. Whisk egg whites in another bowl until soft peak.
16. Fold a tablespoon of egg white into the cheesecake mixture to loosen it, and then carefully but thoroughly fold in the rest of the egg white.
17. Pour the mixture on to the prepared base, cover with clingfilm and chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours (even overnight – the longer the better).
18. To make chocolate curls, melt the 100 gm / 3½ oz of chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water, make sure the base of the bowl doesn’t touch the water.
19. When the chocolate has melted, pour it on to a flat, smooth surface. It should be about 5-mm / ¼-inch thick. If you don’t have a flat, smooth surface, the underside of a large plate will do.
20. Leave the chocolate to set – what you want is the chocolate to be set hard enough so that if you press the surface of the chocolate, it doesn’t leave an indentation. If you use a plate, you can set the chocolate by placing in it the fridge to chill for 45 minutes.
21. Use a cheese slicer to make the chocolate curls, or a knife will do if you hold the blade in both hands. Just pull it all along the chocolate towards you and it should curl up. What is very important to know here is that if it doesn’t curl and you end up with a pile of chocolate shavings they’ll look just as nice – either way, place them in a rigid plastic container and then put this in the fridge until you need them. The curls look lovely dusted with a light sprinkling of cocoa powder.
22. Just before serving, unmold the cheesecake – run a palette knife around the edge of the tin, then release the spring clip and remove it.
23. Lift off the base of cheesecake carefully and transfer to a serving plate.
24. Decorate with chocolate curls.
25. To serve, lightly dust the sifted cocoa powder.
**From “The Delia Collection Chocolate” and “Joyofbaking.com”**
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Comment by Johnny Come Lately
Jack's Back
Comment by Anonymous
Appart from this negative comment...the recipes are fabulous.