Espresso Cheesecake

There is two things you should know about myself and espresso. First thing, I love it! Second thing, I couldn't spell espresso correctly till last year. I use to spell it as expresso. It made sense to me, because at school they taught us to spell as you hear the words. That is how I heard the word espresso.

I am addicted to espresso, I am a barista as well, so tasting a fresh brewed shot of coffee at 6am in the morning is sensational. Or on my days off getting up early and walking down the beach for a early morning swim, as I walk down the street of cafes, I hear each cafe wake up but the subtle sound of the grinder grinding and the humming of the machine warming up.

Let me introduce you to one of my favourite cheesecakes. Growing up as a kid I hated cheesecakes. I didn't like them at all, neither did anyone in our family desire them. Because one evening we were hosting a dinner party, the guest of the party brought along some dessert (cheesecake factory cheesecake) I remember trying one bit of that cheesecake and never wanting to experience that taste again. Was so rubbery, old and artificial.

It wasn't till I was working as a pastry chef at my local cafe, where I had to make cheesecake. This one in particular was not as popular as the other cheesecake I made. But for me this was my favourite cheesecake, was so smooth and not too sweet.

I garnished this cheesecake, with some chocolate ganache rosettes, chocolate covered pieces of honeycomb and a tempered chocolate cage. Because why not! Chocolate and coffee!

The base is a nice crumb biscuit base for texture, smooth creamy cheesecake filling and chocolate garnishing on top!

Now that time, recipe time!

Recipe:

Cheesecake

Base:

460g crushed vanilla biscuits

140g almond meal

300g unsalted butter melted

pinch of salt

Filling:

750g cream cheese

300g sugar

30ml shot of espresso

375ml pouring cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

6 Tablespoon Flour

3 eggs

Method:

Combine ingredients together till it looks like wet sand. Line a cake tin. 25cm or more. Grease and then cut out a baking paper circle and stick it on the bottom.

Press the base mixture into the cake tin, to get a firmer base, press with a back of a spoon.

Set aside

Preheat oven to 130 degrees.

Beat cream cheese and sugar together in a bowl, until nice and fluffy. Add espresso,pouring cream and vanilla. Mix on a low setting. Now mix in the flour and the eggs one at a time, mixing well between each addition of egg.

Pour the cheesecake mixture over the crumbed base, and place in the oven. To get an extra moist cheesecake, place a tray of water at the bottom of the oven.

Bake for 90 minutes, or until there is a small wobble of mixture in the middle.

Allow to cool and release cheesecake from the cake tin. Allow to cool before transferring it to a presentation plate.

Assembly:

Garnish with chocolate ganache and coffee beans.

Yum yum, till next time babes x