It was Carolins 12th birthday on Wednesday, so I feel the need for a cake post - this is not actually what we had for her birthday, but turning 12 is pretty darn exciting, so we just had cake all week.
Decadence on a plate, that's what I call this! As if a rich, sumptuous chocolate brownie alone wasn't enough, there's a gorgeous baked cheesecake with summer berries to top it all up! This is another recipe adapted from a recent cheesecake special in delicious magazine, and it resulted in a wonderfully moist, melt-in-the-mouth cheesecake... it takes a while to make, allow an hour and a half or so, but it's worth every minute. I used a 40x20 cm cake tin which resulted in a cake about 3 cm high, and would try something smaller next time to make the different layers come out more.
The actual birthday cake was something you've seen here before, a white chocolate and berry tart, just with mixed summer berries instead of the strawberries this time. So I won't present the recipe for this again, the only variation are the different fruits (raspberry, blackberry and blueberry) and 12 candles - I guess you can handle this without instructions...
Chocolate brownie and summer berry cheesecake
(makes about 16 servings)
For the brownie base:
180 g dark chocolate (min. 60% cocoa solids)
40 g milk chocolate
200 g unsalted butter (soft)
250 g caster sugar
3 eggs
110 g white self-raising flour
For the cheesecake topping:
400 g cream cheese (I used Philadelphia)
150 g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
100 g blueberries
80 g strawberries (hulled and cut in quarters)
Preheat the oven to 180 C. Grease and line a baking tray.
Prepare the brownie base by melting the chocolate in a heat-proof bowl over steam. Meanwhile, beat the sugar and butter in a mixing bowl until the mixture is very pale and the sugar starting to dissolve. Beat in the eggs. When the chocolate has melted, leave to cool down slightly making sure it does not solidify. Then add the chocolate to the egg and butter mixture and combine thoroughly.Sift and fold in the flour. Spread three quarters of the mixture on the bottom of the pan and keep the rest for later.
In another bowl, mix all the ingredients for the cheese topping (reserve the berries for later) until smooth and spread over the brownie mixture, taking care to keep the layers separate. Spoon the rest of the brownie mixture on top and swirl up a bit with a fork. Spread the berries over the top and stuff them in slighty with your fingers.
Bake for 40 to 45 minutes.
Der Kuchen sieht ja sehr lecker aus :-)
Gibt's eigentlich noch andere empfehlenswerte Kochzeitschriften in England? Ich habe mehrfach geschaut, aber wenig gefunden (siehe auch http://www.20six.de/Chili_und_Ciabatta/archive/2004/07/02/bkymaa0tyl7p.htm)
Schöne Ferien!
Posted by: Petra | Aug 14, 2004 at 05:56 PM
Johanna - I really need to take a day off soon just to browse your archives:)
I have a copy of this issue of Delicious somewhere, with this recipe bookmarked, and now that you praise it as well, I really-really must make it soon. I wonder if K. will like it? ;)
Posted by: Pille | Oct 01, 2006 at 11:52 AM
pille, I am sure about that! and if he doesn't, you'll have to change life plans completely! xx
Posted by: johanna | Oct 01, 2006 at 02:09 PM