The Recipe Room

Mint and vanilla cheesecake makes for a fantastic flavour combination, but if you like mint chocolate, this dessert is for you. Chocolate Minty Cheesecake has a crunchy biscuit base, topped by a cream cheesecake with chocolate mint crunches in every mouthful. It is great for parties, and children love it.  Best served freestanding as it cuts nicely into wedges. You’ll need a loose bottom or spring-form tin to do the presentation justice.

Ingredients for the base:

• 60g digestive biscuits
• 120g milk chocolate digestive biscuits
• 60g butter

Ingredients for the topping:

• 1 tbsp powdered gelatine (or equivalent in gelatine sheets)
• 3 tbsp water
• 225g full fat soft cheese
• 115g caster sugar
• 115g mint chocolate crisp wafers or sticks
• 2 eggs
• 115ml whipping cream

Preparation Guidelines:

The base:

1. Grease a deep, loose bottom, or spring-form tin (7 to 8 inches).
2. Crush the biscuits either in a plastic bag with a rolling pin or in a mixer.
3. Melt the butter in a pan and stir in the biscuits.
4. Spoon into the base of the tin, and press down a little with the back of the spoon.
5. Put to chill in the fridge.

The topping:

1. While the base sets, sprinkle the gelatine over the water in a small bowl. Melt over a pan of hot water and leave to cool slightly.
2. Beat the soft cheese together with half the castor sugar in a bowl.
3. Break up the mint wafers or sticks, reserving a few for decoration, and stir into the cheese mixture.
4. Separate the eggs and beat the yolks into the cheese mix.
5. Beat in the cooled gel mixture.
6. Whip the cream until thick, and fold in.
7. Leave the mixture until it is on the point of setting (30 mins in fridge).
8. Whisk the egg whites until stiff, and then beat in the remaining sugar.
9. Fold the egg white and sugar; mix lightly but thoroughly into the cheese mix.
10. Spoon into prepared base, tilt gently to level the surface, and chill in the fridge for a further 3-4 hrs.

To Serve:

Turn out of the tin and decorate with remaining mint wafers or sticks.

Note:    If you don’t have a loose bottomed or spring-form tin, use a flat-based glass dish; your dessert will look like a minty version of Eton Mess when you dish up, but it will still taste great.

Time:  30-40 mins to prepare, 3-4 hrs or overnight to set in fridge

Cocoa Treats:  8 servings

 

 

Here’s the 2^nd part of the Chocolate Eater Nest Torte recipe which covers instructions on making the moussey torte topping, and the pretty nest-style decoration for the top of the cake.  There’s a lot of work involved overall, but it’s fun, and the result is truly worth it!

Ingredients:

For the torte topping

• 2 tbsp cold water
• 2 tbsp powdered gelatine
• 50g caster sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 tsp cornflour
• 200g good dark chocolate, broken into pieces
• 300ml milk
• 300ml whipping cream

For the decoration

• 150g good milk chocolate, roughly sliced
• 1-2 packs of mini chocolate eggs

Preparation Guidelines:

For the torte topping:

1. Dissolve the gelatine in the water and leave to soften.  Meanwhile, beat the egg yolks in a clean bowl, and mix together with the sugar, cornflour and a splash of milk.  Make a custard by heating the remaining milk in a saucepan, bringing it just to the boil, then whisking it in well to the egg yolk mixture, returning it to the saucepan and cooking it gently until thickened, stirring constantly and not overheating.  Remove the custard from the heat and stir in the gelatine, dissolving it. Add the chocolate and let sit until melted in, and then stir well.  Transfer the mix to a bowl, cut and lay a piece of greaseproof paper over the surface to prevent a skin, leave to cool until just starting to thicken, and remove the paper.
2. Whip the cream firm and work into the chocolate mix.  Spoon the mixture on top of the chocolate sponge (part 1), inside the chocolate casing (part 1), levelling the surface, then chill in the fridge for 1-2 hrs until set.  You can then remove the paper strip from around the chocolate casing.

For the decoration:

3. Roughly slice the milk chocolate into long, thin shards.  Scatter them gently in a nest shape on top of the torte and fill the nest with the mini eggs.

Time: 2 hrs plus cooling and chilling time for the whole cake making process, including part 1

Cocoa Treats: 12 servings

Note: For more spring cake ideas, try this Easter cake with orange and marzipan.

In my opinion, Christopher Columbus’ most important discovery was chocolate. OK, he had to discover the Americas to find it, and that was great too, but chocolate was the best thing he ever did. Before then, it was the dark and secretive preserve of the Central Americans and one of their gods in particular, Quetzalcoatl, who is usually represented as a serpent-like figure with plumes. The ancient guardians of chocolate (or ‘xocolatl’, as it was known) revered it as a source of strength and wealth – and how right they were! It is both energy-giving and worth masses on the stock market! It has evolved into a vastly more sophisticated and varied product than Columbus could have dreamed, especially while he was drinking the bitter watery concoction that passed for drinking chocolate in those days! Columbus is known to have drunk chocolate, but it was his compatriot, Hernan Cortez who brought it back to Europe in the early 16^th century. I bet they would have loved to have sampled my Mocha Slushy Punch.

Try this as a dessert idea after a filling dinner when you think there won’t be much room for heavy pudding – it goes down a treat!  I use Baileys, but you could just as easily use whisky or rum for a delicious alternative. You could also create some great non-alcoholic versions or use a similar recipe for a cool iced mocha.

Ingredients

• 1L of freshly brewed coffee, well chilled
• 1 small pot whipping cream (200ml)
• 1L tub choc ice cream
• 60ml Baileys
• Chocolate syrup to drizzle on top

Preparation guidelines:

1. Make the coffee in advance and put in the fridge to chill.
2. Whip the cream until really firm.
3. Put the chilled coffee into a big bowl.
4. Add around half of the ice cream and mix in until slushy.
5. Add your Baileys or other drink/flavouring.
6. Mix in the rest of the ice cream, pour into tall glasses, add the whipped cream and sprinkle with the chocolate flakes.
7. Serve immediately.

Note:  Serve immediately in tall glasses with long spoons. Keep super-chilled if it’s going to be more than 5 mins before you serve, to preserve the slushy texture.

Time:    10 mins plus a couple of hours to chill the fresh coffee

Cocoa Treats:    4 generous servings