#4 Tricia My housemate chanced upon a new greengrocer, Parkway Greens Greengrocers (Parkway Greens, 52 Parkway, Camden, London, NW1 7AH), near our place that opened early this year. I got to try some of the fruits that Trish bought and they were so much sweeter and fresher than the ones I usually get from the supermarket. Anyway, the main point of this post isn't about the greengrocer but the passion fruit she bought (this was pretty exciting news to me because I've never had an actual, whole passion fruit before) and since she couldn't finish it before her vacation, she asked me to make something with it.
I've been wanting to perfect my non-bake cheesecake recipe and this was the perfect opportunity to do so. I didn't like the tanginess of the cream cheese in the previous recipe (my personal preference) so I swapped some out for a more neutral tasting mascarpone. And to balance the flavours, I chose caramelised white chocolate and mango as the sweetness would go well with the tartness of the passion fruit. (Trish kindly offered to make another trip to the greengrocers for more passion fruit and mango. Thank you!)
Caramelised White Chocolate, Passion Fruit & Mango Cheesecake
(makes a 9 inch square cake)
Biscuit Base
200g - Digestive biscuits
100g - Melted butter
~ Crush the biscuits and mix with melted butter.
~ Press it firmly into the base of the loose bottom tin.
~ Refrigerate for an hour.
Caramelised White Chocolate
(adapted from David Lebovitz)
200g - White chocolate (minimum 30% cocoa butter or more)
~ Break the chocolate into smaller pieces and place them on a tray.
~ Bake in the oven at 120°C and stir it every 10 minutes.
~ The chocolate is done when it's a nice shade of brown. Mine took about 40 minutes.
Cheesecake
200g - Philadelphia cream cheese
400g - Mascarpone
150ml - Double cream
20g - Icing sugar
3 sheets - Leaf gelatine
2 - Small mangoes
~ Soak the gelatine in cold water for 5 minutes.
~ Remove the gelatine from the water and give it a squeeze to remove excess water. Dissolve it in the warm caramelised white chocolate. (reheat the chocolate over a bain-marie if you need to)
~ Gently beat the cream cheese, mascarpone, icing sugar and caramelised white chocolate till smooth.
~ Whip the double cream separately and fold it into the mixture along with some diced mangoes.
~ Pour it over the biscuit base and place it in the freezer while you make the passion fruit topping.
Passion Fruit Topping
300ml - Passion fruit juice (the flesh of about 10-15 passion fruits and top up the rest with water. Add more water to account for the weight of the seeds that will be removed later)
50g - Caster sugar
3 sheets - Leaf gelatine
~ Soak the gelatine in cold water for 5 minutes.
~ Bring the passion fruit juice and sugar to a boil in a saucepan. Remove from heat and strain to remove the seeds.
~ Remove the gelatine from the water and give it a squeeze to remove excess water. Dissolve in the passion fruit juice.
~ Allow the passion fruit juice to cool before gently pouring over the cheesecake filling.
If using loose bottom tin:
~ Freeze the cheesecake for a few hours before unmoulding.
~ Refrigerate the cheesecake overnight.
If using springform tin:
~ Refrigerate the cheesecake overnight before removing from the tin.
