Sugar et al

Because Life is a blend of flavours...

No-Bake Mocha Peppermint Cheesecake

12|11|2014

I know I have to step up my fitness regime. I can foresee two whole months of eating too much cake, cookies and indulgent treats. I have to make them and if there isn’t enough room in the fridge, someone has to make room for them. Someone who thinks she could hug them if they were real. Or showcase them in a museum.

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It’s really hard for me to decide if I like a no-bake cheesecake than the baked version. But I do find it a bit easier to put together and without eggs,it is lighter in texture than it’s baked counterpart.  In this recipe I’ve used my favourite chocolate cheesecake ingredients, added coffee to it for a mocha flavour and folded in crushed candy cane for a touch of Peppermint. Then I have topped the cheesecake with more crushed candy cane and pink sprinkles.And that’s all. Easy peasy. But the flavours are good together. Peppermint isn’t really my favourite but Mocha is. You have complete control over how subtle or strong you want the peppermint to be in the cheesecake.The candy cane tends to become sticky after crushing so my advice would be to not do this too much ahead in time.

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There are quite a few food-porn-ish cakes in the making now. One more resting in the fridge begging to be photographed. And then the one I am most excited about…for the twin’s fifth birthday. We decided to take a small vacation during that time so the cake will be made and cut in advance at home. We plan to have a store bought one on the actual birthday so whichever way it is, there’s going to be a lot of cake. Along with happy faces.

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No-Bake Mocha Peppermint Cheesecake
Serves 8-10

200 g chocolate cookies
70 g unsalted butter, melted
2 tbsp hot milk
2 tsp powdered gelatine
11/2 tsp instant coffee
10-12 candy canes (crushed with a rolling pin inside a ziplock bag)
200 g dark chocolate, melted and cooled
500 g cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup castor sugar
1/2 cup thickened cream
cocoa powder, to sprinkle

Grease a 19 cm round Springform pan. Line the base and sides with baking paper.
Place the cookies in a food processor. Process until fine crumbs. Add melted butter and mix to combine. Using your fingertips, press biscuit mixture over base of prepared pan. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or until firm.

Pour milk into a small bowl. Sprinkle over gelatine. add the instant coffee. Using a fork, whisk until gelatine and coffee are dissolved. Set aside to cool slightly.

Using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sugars in a large bowl until smooth. In a separate bowl, whip heavy cream to soft peaks. Add the melted and cooled chocolate and gelatine mixture to the whipped cream. Fold in to blend till smooth.

Add the chocolate-cream mixture to the cream cheese mixture. Fold in gradually till mixed. Next, add 1/2 the crushed candy cane (reserving the rest for the topping) and fold in. Spoon over the base of the cookie mixture. Smooth out the surface with a palette knife or the back of a spoon. Cover. Refrigerate for 4 hours or until set. Sprinkle generously with cocoa. Top with crushed candy cane.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mocha Mousse with Coffee Glazed Hazelnuts and Cocoa Tuile

5|08|2013

Isn’t it ironical that I am posting about coffee when my morning coffee has just been replaced by a cup of masala chai (spiced tea)! Life has been wonderful. Despite travelling 5000 miles over, I am anything but jet lagged and loving every bit of my break. So have I been missing coffee? Well, not really. I did make sure I had loads of it in my dessert, before I left.

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This is the first time I am contributing to the Chocolate Party hosted by Roxana’s Home Baking and I couldn’t be more excited. Chocolate is one word that is probably scribbled all over my blog and has the most number of recipes dedicated to it. When I learnt the secret ingredient for August was coffee, I didn’t want to miss it though I knew it would be a little early on a vacation to open my laptop and think ‘blog’. So I prepared my dessert and photographed it well ahead in time.

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I love this pairing! Needless to say it’s a decadent, rich mousse, heady with the triple dose of coffee. If you love coffee, this is the dessert for you. To make it totally coffee-ish I glazed the hazelnuts (along with a few cashew nuts) with a bitter-sweet coating of coffee and baked them to crispness. One spoonful of this and it takes all your willpower to stop. The tuile makes the dessert look stunning though you can leave it out if you think it’s a hassle. I added it because I wanted to give equal weightage to both the ingredients.

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Mocha Mousse with Coffee Glazed Hazelnuts and  Cocoa Tuile
Serves 4

Mocha Mousse
½ Cup heavy cream for the custard (Crème Anglaise)
1 tsp instant coffee powder
4 Egg Yolks
¼ Cup Sugar(or to taste)
3/4 cup Dark Chocolate, chopped
1/2 Cup Heavy Cream for whipping
1 Tablespoon Coffee Liquor, optional (I used Kahlua)

Heat the ½ cup cream over medium heat in a saucepan. Add the instant coffee powder and stir to dissolve. Beat the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl. When the cream reaches boiling point take it off the heat, add 2 tsp of the coffee cream mixture into the egg mixture and whisk. Gradually pour the remaining cream over the egg mixture whisking constantly till combined. (This is done gradually so as to ensure that the eggs don’t scramble) Return the egg-cream mixture to the pan.

Heat the mixture under a medium-low flame, whisking constantly till the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. This is called a Creme anglaise/custard.

Place the dark chocolate in a bowl. Remove the custard from heat and pass it through a sieve into the bowl of chocolate. Let the mixture remain undisturbed for a while. Stir to smoothen out the chocolate. Cool to room temperature. While the custard is cooling, whip the remaining 1/2 cup cream to stiff peaks. Add the coffee liquor if using and stir slowly to combine. Store in the refrigerator till needed.

When the chocolate mixture has cooled down completely add it to the whipped cream little at a time & fold in till no white streaks appear. Pour into serving glasses. Refrigerate till set, about 4 hours or preferably overnight.

Coffee Glazed Hazelnuts

1 tbsp water
1/2 tsp instant coffee powder
2 tbsp castor sugar
1 tbsp golden syrup or light corn syrup
1 cup hazelnuts

Preheat oven to 180 degree C. Line a baking tray with aluminium foil.
Add all the ingredients except the hazelnuts to a medium saucepan and place over medium heat. Bring to a boil stirring constantly till the mixture has blended completely and looks dark brown. Remove from heat and add in the nuts and mix till evenly coated. Spread on the baking tray in a single layer. Bake for 10 minutes, stirring once in between. Remove from the oven and cool completely. Break into pieces and store till needed.

Cocoa Tuile
20 g all-purpose flour
20 g butter, room temperature
20 ml water
20 g cocoa powder
70 g icing sugar
Preheat oven to 180 degree C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl till a smooth paste forms. Spread evenly in a thin layer on the baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about a minute. Break into desired shapes and let harden for about 2 mins.

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