I never fail to be impressed by desserts which are an absolute treat, yet child's play to prepare. The US have a great heritage of such dishes: cookies, brownies and, king of them all, the cheesecake! With Austria being the birthplace of cakes and strudels (although admittedly our great culinary heritage in this respect is drawn from the times of the Austrian Empire and most of the recipes have their roots in Bohemia, which is now part of the Czech Republic, with another few originating in Hungary) I have grown up with cakes being immensely elaborate (think Dobostorte which our own Wolfgang Puck of Spago has recently recreated for Foodnetwork) and taking a long time to make... certainly not something a child could make and definitely not something you whip up in minutes.
The notion of cakes taking hours to make helps me maintain a healthy (in the eyes of some too skinny) physique - and yet I could get up, rummage through my kitchen cabinets & fridges and enjoy the fruits of my labour in under an hour, in the form of a delicious cheesecake. They're also particularly good to prepare ahead, so an optimal choice for dinner parties, and I have yet to meet someone who does not like them...
White chocolate & ginger cheesecakes with exotic fruits
(makes 6 individual portions)
100 g digestive biscuits (finely crushed)
40 g butter (melted)
100 g white chocolate (melted)
10 g fresh ginger (finely grated)
400 g philadelphia cream cheese
100 g sugar
2 egg yolks
1 dash lemon juice
exotic fruit for the topping (I used kiwi, physalis, mango, pineapple & passion fruit)
black currant syrup or crème de cassis and passion fruit pulp (to decorate)
First, preheat the oven to 180 C, then prepare the base by combining the crushed biscuits with the butter. Divide the mixture between 6 non-stick, loose-bottomed flan tins (ca. 10 cm diameter) and press it neatly into the base to form an even layer.
Combine the rest of the ingredients (except the fruit topping) thoroughly and divide it between the flan tins. The mixture will rise a little, so don't overfill.
Place the cheesecakes in the oven and cook for ca. 25 minutes until risen, set and golden brown.
Leave to cool and top with diced fruit and syrup just before serving.
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