April 2005

White and Dark Chocolate Cheesecake.

This is a dish that be prepared well in advance and can be made in small or large numbers. It is made with melted white chocolate, dark chocolate, double cream, mascarpone cheese and little sugar and gelatine. We also need butter and ginger biscuits for the base.

We first lined a small ring mould with some grease proof paper. And put onto a tray. For the base we melted a little butter and then stirred in some ginger biscuit crumbs. These were made by simply putting some ginger biscuits into a food processor and turning to crumbs. This mixture will be warm and quite soft but should be spooned into the ring mould, pushed down with a spoon and then chilled. As the mix chills , the butter will set and you get a nice firm base.

The rest of the mixture is then made. We heated up some double cream in a pan and added some castor sugar. This was warmed and stirred until all the sugar has dissolved into the cream. It was removed from the heat and allowed to start gently cooling. When it has cooled to about body temperature we stirred in about twice the volume of mascarpone cheese. This should be at room temperature as well. We now have a slightly loose mix similar to half whipped double cream. This mix will need to be at about the same temperature and consistency as the two melted chocolate mixes. We melted the white and dark chocolate in glass bowls over a pan of boiling water making sure that the bowl and the water do not touch. Once the chocolate has melted we took the bowls off the heat and let them sit for a minute. Now you should have three separate things. The cream and cheese mixture, the white chocolate and the dark chocolate. You then need to add the two chocolates together but without stirring them. Then add the cheese mixture. Now carefully swirl a spoon through the mixture to mix together but leaving a rippled effect . ie, not all the mixture is the same colour. This mixture will start to cool and set quite quickly so you need to pour into the ring moulds as soon as you can. This now needs to be left in the fridge for a few hours before use.

We have served our cheesecake with some raspberry coulis and some black berries in small brandy snap baskets. The baskets we bought from a shop but the coulis we made. That was done by putting some fresh raspberries in a pan with a good amount of castor sugar. This was heated until the raspberries broke down to liquid and the sugar dissolved into it. This was then put into a food processor and liquidized and then poured through a very fine sieve to remove any bits and pips from the raspberries. Once this has cooled it will thicken and will then be ready to use.

This raspberry sauce can be used for all sorts of desserts, I like it on some good quality vanilla ice cream.

I hope you enjoy it.

Paul Vincent, Head Chef.