SERVES 12
This is a delicious cheesecake that requires some skill, but once you’ve mastered the art of the baked cheesecake you’ll never look back.
Take your time to decorate it so that it looks really beautiful. I recommend using a few borage flowers to make the dark chocolate pop — plus borage has a great flavour, is easy to grow and bees love it. If you don’t have a garden, just grow a pot of it on your veranda; the gorgeous, vibrant indigo will add life to any dish. A pretty alternative is pink manuka flowers.
Ingredients:
- 60g unsalted butter, melted
- 350g good-quality dark chocolate (at least 50%), roughly chopped
- 700g cream cheese
- 200g caster sugar
- 3 Tbsp cocoa powder, sifted
- 4 free-range eggs
- 2 free-range egg yolks
- ¾ cup cream
- 2 tsp vanilla paste
Ganache:
- 250g good-quality dark chocolate, chopped
- 200ml cream
Cherry Kirsch Compote:
- 1 can sour morello cherries, drained
- 60g caster sugar
- ½ Tbsp lemon juice
- ½ Tbsp kirsch
To serve:
- fresh cherries (optional) edible flowers
Method:
- Preheat oven to 150°C. Grease a 25cm round springform cake tin. Place biscuits in a food processor and process to a fine crumb. Add melted butter and mix until combined. Place large spoonfuls into prepared tin and press firmly into the bottom of the tin. Bake for 10 minutes, then remove from the oven to cool.
- Place chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering (not boiling) water. Stir occasionally with a rubber spatula until fully melted. Set aside. Place cream cheese in a food processor and blend until smooth — you may need to scrape down the sides of the bowl a couple of times. Add in both sugars, cocoa, eggs and yolks, cream and vanilla, and process until well combined. Place in a large mixing bowl and fold melted chocolate through. Gently pour mixture into prepared tin. Bake in the oven for approximately 1 hour, until just set in the middle. Cool completely, then chill overnight in the refrigerator.
- For the ganache, place chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Place cream in a small pot and gently bring to the boil. Pour cream over chocolate, cover and leave for a few minutes, then whisk together until smooth. Chill in the refrigerator to set, but bring the ganache to room temperature before using it. For the compote, place cherries, sugar and lemon juice in a small pot and slowly bring to the boil over a medium heat. Cover and simmer for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally, then remove from heat and stir in kirsch. Cool, and store in the refrigerator until ready to use.
- To serve, top cheesecake with cherry compote, dollops of ganache, fresh cherries if in season and edible flowers.
Extract from Fran Mazza's new book: Feed Me, Feed Me.
