Recipes

Salted Caramel and Vanilla Baked Cheesecake

Here's the recipe for the salted caramel cheesecake as promised. I have added my alterations in bold. Enjoy!

500g plain sweet biscuits

1/2 cup (60g) almond meal

150g butter, melted 240g

350g ricotta

500g cream cheese

1 cup (175g) brown sugar 250g

4 eggs

2 tablespoons golden syrup

1/4 teaspoon table salt

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup (250ml) single cream

1 cup (240g) sour cream

1 tablespoon icing sugar, sifted

sea salt flakes, for sprinkling

Caramel Sauce

1 cup (250ml) single cream

60g butter, chopped 85g

1 cup (175g) brown sugar 250g

To make the caramel sauce, place the cream, butter and sugar in a saucepan over low heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Increase the heat to high, bring to the boil and cook for 5-7 minutes or until thickened. Set aside and allow to cool.

Preheat oven to 160C. Place the biscuits and almond meal in the bowl of a food processor and process until coarsely chopped. Add the butter and process to combine. Press the biscuit mixture into the base and sides of a lightly greased 22cm springform cake tin. Refrigerate for 1 hour. There will be way too much biscuit mixture for the base. 500g of biscuits is too much but I had already followed the recipe and added the butter before I realised is was very wrong! I will do half the amount next time. Also, use a straight sided drinking glass to help push the biscuits up the sides of the tin. This way you get a really neat and even finish and it's much less fiddly.

Place the ricotta and cream cheese in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 5-6 minutes or until smooth. Add the sugar and beat for 3-4 minutes or until combined. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the golden syrup, table salt and 1 teaspoon of vanilla and beat until well combined. Spoon the mixture into the biscuit shell. place the tin in a baking dish and pour enough boiling water to come halfway up the sides of the tin. I highly recommend covering the outside of the tin in foil before putting in the water bath so you don't get any water seeping into the tin! Bake for 1 hour 30 minutes or until firm to the touch. Remove cheesecake from the baking dish and allow to cool in the tin. Refrigerate for 3 hours or until set.

Place the cream, sour cream. icing sugar and remaining vanilla essence in a bowl and whisk until soft peaks form. Top the cheesecake with the cream, drizzle with the caramel sauce and sprinkle with sea salt flakes to serve. Serves 8-10.

Custard Tarts

Recipe for custard filling:

1 tab cornflour

265g caster sugar

600ml cream

6 whole eggs, plus 2 yolks

1 tsp vanilla extract

grated fresh nutmeg

Method:

Preheat oven to 160 degrees.

Place cornflour and sugar in a bowl and stir in cream.

In a separate bowl, beat eggs and extra yolks, then add to sugar mixture with vanilla extract and stir well.

Pour filling into cases, sprinkly with nutmeg and bake until just set. approx. 15 minutes

Be careful not to overcook as it will rise out the top of the pastry cases and change the texture of the custard. I ended up making 48 small custard tarts from this recipe.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Mousse

Chocolate Mousse Recipe

Ingredients
300g Chocolate
3 eggs, separated
1 1/2 cups cream
25g caster sugar

Method

• Melt the chocolate, quickly mix in the egg yolk and cream until smooth.
• Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form, mix in the sugar until sugar has dissolved.
• Fold egg whites into the chocolate mixture, pour into bowls and set in fridge.

Caramel Slice

Ingredients

140g Self raising flour

250g Brown sugar

90g coconut

125g butter, melted

395g sweetened condensed milk

60g golden syrup

30g extra butter

200g chocolate, melted (I use cadbury milk chocolate)

Method

Combine the first 4 ingredients in a bowl, mix well and press into base of lined 18cm x 28cm lamington tin. Bake at 180 degrees for 10 minutes, until golden.

Combine condensed milk, golden syrup, and extra butter in a saucepan. Bring to the boil stirring, then reduce the heat and simmer 5 minutes stirring constantly until golden.

Spread caramel over cooked base, return to oven, bake further 10 minutes, cool. Spread melted chocolate over caramel filling and allow to set.

Enjoy!