Here I am back on my beloved little blog after yet another break; almost a month this time! No, I have not been on vacation! Luckily for me I live on a beautiful island so it is is like being on vacation - permanently. Now that the good weather is here, well in Tenerife anyway, we feel like eating refreshing things and the strong citrus flavour here will certainly refresh you a lot.
So,
how about a slice of cheesecake with your
afternoon coffee? It's light, fresh, citrus-scented and a tender
texture. Every bite of it is an unadulterated pleasure. One slice won't
be enough, of that you can be sure.
This
cheesecake with oranges is not baked and has gelatine glaze on top . So
you'll have to be a little more patient and give it a chance to set
well in the fridge. It needs at least four hours, but the longer the
better. That's why my advice with these types of desserts is always to
make them in the evening so they're ready the next day, or in the
morning so you can serve them in the afternoon or at dinner.
The
orange flavor in our orange cheesecake comes from the zest and juice of
the fresh fruit but if you're worried about the sour notes here, you can
use half oranges and half tangerines. The taste will become even richer
and more citrusy. The recipe is relatively easy to prepare and if you're
worried about whether you can handle the gelatin, just follow the
instructions below. We usually associate these citrus fruits with
winter, but the truth is that the dessert, with its freshness, is better
suited to summer but hey, it's summer all year around here!
Prep Time: 30-40 mins
Cook Time: None
Serves: 8
Ingredients for the cheesecake:
15 digestive biscuits
6 tbsp butter, melted
400g cream cheese
grated zest of 3 oranges
200g mascarpone cheese
200g castor sugar
3 tbsp milk
185ml double cream
Ingredients for the orange glaze topping:
150ml freshly squeezed orange juice
10g sugar
1 tsp gelatine powder
Instructions:
1. Crush the biscuits roughly. You can do this by putting them in a plastic food bag and crushing them with a wooden spoon.
2. Put the biscuits into a bowl and mix in the melted butter. Put the
mixture into a 23cm cheesecake tin, then use the back of a spoon to
spread it evenly and press it down in the tin to form the base. Put the
tin into the fridge to set. This should take about 30 minutes.
3. Put the cream cheese, orange zest, mascarpone, sugar and milk into a bowl and mix it well with the wooden spoon.
4. Put the cream in a clean bowl and whisk until it is the consistency of
thick custard. Add to the orange mixture and mix thoroughly.
5. Remove the cheesecake tin from the fridge. Pour the filling over the
biscuit base and spread evenly.
6. To make the orange gelatin, combine the orange juice and sugar in a saucepan.
7. Once mixture comes to a boil, turn off the heat and add the gelatin and mix until dissolved. Set aside to cool.
8. Pour the orange gelatin mix on top of the chilled cheesecake. Spread evenly with a spoon and place back in to the fridge for glaze to set, preferably overnight.