Let’s face it….there is cheesecake, and then, there is CHEESECAKE. Chef Ryan’s triple layered, caramel infused, glazed cheesecake is quite simply one of the best you will ever have the pleasure of eating. As you can imagine, we were thrilled when he offered to share the recipe on the blog! It mean’t we could all attempt at baking this dessert delight. However, having read through the recipe it is very clearly a labour of love, and not a quick whip up cake. Having said that though, we have been fortunate enough to eat this unbelievable cheesecake and will happily testify to the fact that every laborious step is absolutely worth it.
So, when you have some time on your hands, and feel like indulging in an completely spoiling treat, do yourself (and anyone you’re generous enough to share it with) a favour and give their recipe a go, you will definitely not regret it!
Caramel Cheesecake With Mirror Glaze
Ingredients
Base:
1 cup White Sugar
½ cup Sunflower Oil
½ cup Hot Water
4 Eggs
½ cup Cocoa Powder
1 cup Cake Four
15ml Baking Powder
Filling:
2 Eggs
½ cup White Sugar
1 cup Caramel Chocolate
1 cup Cream
3 cup Smooth Cream Cheese
10ml Vanilla Essence
15ml powdered Gelatine (hydrated in a little cold water) Mirror Glaze
380g Condensed Milk
380g Cold Water
580g White Sugar
30g Powdered Gelatine (hydrated in a little cold water)
700g White Chocolate
Method
For the base:
1. Preheat the oven to 180ᵒC
2. In a bowl (using an electric beater), beat the white sugar, oils and water until frothy
3. Add the eggs (one at a time) and beat well
4. Sift the cocoa powder, flour and baking powder into the egg mixture and fold until combined
5. Place the batter in a greased cake tin and bake for 35 minutes or until a skewer pricked into the centre comes out clean
6. Once the cake has baked, remove from the oven and let it cool before unmoulding it from the cake tin
For the filling:
1. Place a pot of simmering water on the stove
2. Have a bowl ready that fits over the pot to use as a double boiler
3. In the bowl, place the eggs and sugar
4. Whisk the eggs over the simmering water until they turn pale yellow in colour
5. Add the caramel chocolate and cream to the egg mixture and stir until the chocolate has melted
6. Add the hydrated gelatine to the egg mixture and stir until all the gelatine has dissolved
7. Remove the bowl from the heat and add the cream cheese
8. Using an electric beater, beat the mixture until all the cream cheese has melted and the mixture is smooth
Layering the cake:
1. Trim the top off the cake and then cut lengthways in half
2. In a spring form cake tin (one that is slightly larger than the cake), place a layer of cream cheese mixture (about 1 cm thick) on the bottom and freeze
3. Once the base has frozen, place a layer of cake in the centre and pour the cream cheese filling around the sides
4. Place back in the freezer
5. Once the cake has frozen, repeat steps 2 and 3
6. Once the cake is layered completely, freeze overnight
Mirror Glaze:
1. Place the water, condensed milk and sugar in a pot and bring to the boil. (stir continuously)
2. Once the mixture starts to boil, remove from the heat and add the gelatine
3. Stir until the gelatine dissolves
4. Place the white chocolate in a deep jug and pour the sugar mixture over the chocolate
5. Using a hand blender, blend the mixture until smooth
6. Add some food colouring (any colour you can think of!!) and blend the mixture again
7. Strain the glaze through a fine mesh strainer into a new jug
Finishing off:
1. Take the cake out the freezer and unmould it from the cake tin
2. Place the cake on 3 “stilts” (I use small cups) inside a large deep pan (this is to catch the drips from the mirror glaze)
3. When the mirror glaze reaches about 30ᵒC (it should be slightly runny and should feel warm to hot when touched), pour over the cake in a circular motion until all the glaze has been used. Be careful to make sure the sides are completely covered by the glaze
4. Let the excess glaze drip off the bottom of the cake
5. Carefully transfer the cake from the “stilts” to a cake board
6. Place in the fridge for at least 5 hours to defrost
