Trifle cheesecake

Trifle or cheesecake?  Surely, one of the toughest decisions the dessert menu can pose.  Well, fret no more because nature has found a solution: trifle cheesecake.  All the flavour and texture of cheesecake with all the bells and whistles of trifle.

As soon as I saw this recipe in the BBC Good Food Christmas magazine I knew it was what we’d be eating after Christmas lunch.  If I was in a romcom, I could tell the BBC they had me at “trifle cheesecake”.

Christmas would be much more drab without sprinkles:

When you think about it, some cheesecakes already have a thick fruity layer on top but more of a set coulis than jelly.  The jelly works really well and lightens the whole dessert.  It was definitely a crowd pleaser.

I thought I had lined my tin pretty thoroughly, and also thought I had spread out the cheesecake layer to close off any holes.  Wrong.  That liquid jelly is a terror and I say this to prepare you for the likelihood of leakage.  Take precautions in advance – lots of kitchen paper under the tin will prevent it looking like a jelly massacre took place shortly before you opened the fridge door.  Also have a spare packet of jelly to make up for the jelly lost in leakage; it looks a bit weird if your raspberries are left poking out the top! (Not a sentence I ever thought I’d type)

Apologies for the poor quality photos; the light wasn’t great and, by this point in events, I had roast potato-fuelled inertia.  In other words....a typical Christmas!  Hope you all had a good one!

Ingredients

For the base:

250g digestive biscuits
100g unsalted butter

For the cheesecake layer:

3 gelatine leaves
3 tablespoons Bird’s custard powder
200ml milk
100ml double cream
900g cream cheese – I used Philadelphia
200g golden caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the jelly:

1 x 135g pack raspberry jelly cubes (You might want a spare pack on standby, should you lose jelly to leakages – I did!)
175g raspberries

For the cream:

300ml double cream
Cadbury’s Flake
Sprinkles of your choice

Method

Line a 23cm round springform tin with foil or clingfilm.  It needs to be completely lined.  Also wrap the outside of the tin with foil – because the chances are the jelly will leak!  If you’re a pessimist (I am) then place some kitchen paper under the tin inside the foil as it soaks up any leaks.

In a food processor blitz together the digestive biscuits and butter (no need to melt) until it resembles wet sand.

Press the biscuits crumbs into the base of the prepared tin and refrigerate.

Now make the custard for the cheesecake layer: place the gelatine leaves into a bowl of cold water.  Put to one side.

Spoon the custard powder into a bowl.

Pour the milk and cream into a saucepan and then take three or four tablespoons of this to stir into the custard powder and make a thick paste.

Heat the milk and cream in the saucepan until almost at boiling point.

Pour over the custard paste and stir to ensure no lumps.

Return to the saucepan and heat, stirring all the time, until the custard thickens.

Remove from the heat.

Squeeze all the water from the gelatine leaves and whisk into the warm custard.

Pour into a bowl and press clingfilm onto the surface to stop a skin forming.

Leave to cool.

When it is cool, you can make the cheesecake layer: beat together the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until smooth and well combined.

Stir the custard to loosen it a bit, and then beat into the cheesecake mix.

Spoon over the biscuit base and return to the refrigerator for 4 hours.

Now make the jelly layer: Make half the packet of jelly and leave, in the jug to cool for 30 minutes or so.

Pour over the cheesecake and place the raspberries in the jelly.  At this point, they won’t be covered.  There might be some jelly leakage at this point but if you have prepared your tin adequately it shouldn’t cause any fridge-carnage!

Refrigerate for an hour.

Make up the remaining half pack of jelly and pour over the raspberries.

Refrigerate for an hour or until the jelly is totally set.

Whip up the cream and pipe over the jelly on top of the trifle.

Sprinkle over crushed Flake or almonds, or any sugar decoration you have.

Remove from the refrigerator about 10 minutes before you wish to serve.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have created.

Eat.

Trifle sponge cake

 

Recently I made a trifle and it dawned on me that, with a bit of tweaking as to the order of construction you could make trifle cake.  And here it is!  It may sound immodest (OK, definitely immodest!) but I consider this my masterpiece; so often I am disappointed with my final product as it doesn’t match the perfection I pictured in my mind.  This one exceeded my wildest hopes!

Mr CC is very hands off re cooking and is totally happy to go along with whatever I wish to make, however I wish to make it – with one big exception: trifle.  The look on his face when I once served him trifle without jelly in it now forms the Oxford English Dictionary’s definition of “disgust”. 

The look on his face when I used posh fresh custard rather than Bird’s...well, let’s just say that I’m amazed I ever made it to becoming Mrs CC!

This cake really is, barring the homemade sponge, comprised of trifle ingredients of the 1970s i.e. the decade of my (and Mr CC’s) youth.  Tinned fruit, packet jelly, Bird’s custard and whipped cream.  Happy days.

In order for everything to set make the sponge two days before you wish to serve the cake. 

Leave it overnight to firm up and then, one day before serving slice it into three, place a layer in the tin and add the custard.  Place another layer of sponge on top then back in the fridge to set. 

A little later pour some jelly on to the sponge and then refrigerate until set.

Then add the tinned fruit and the rest of the jelly, top with the remaining sponge and – you’ve guessed it - back into the fridge to set. 

On the day of serving add the whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles.  Easy enough, but it does require planning.  I only say this so no one tries to make the cake in one day and then get cross that I didn’t point out the timescale involved!

Slice of trifle anyone?

Ingredients

For the cake:
250g unsalted butter, at room temperature
220g caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 eggs
80ml milk
300g self raising flour

For the filling:
1 pint of powdered custard – made up as per the instructions on the pot (you can’t use fresh custard as it won’t set and hold its shape like Bird’s)
1 tin of fruit cocktail (in fruit juice, not syrup)
1 packet of jelly – made up as per the instructions on the packet

To decorate: whipped cream and flaked chocolate

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan oven 160°C/350°F/Gas mark 4.

Line the base of a 20cm springform deep baking tin with baking paper.

Start by making the sponge 2 days before you wish to serve the cake: Beat together the butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Don’t skimp on this stage as this is when you get lots of lovely air into your sponge.

Beat in the eggs gradually, add some of the flour if it looks like it might curdle.

Beat in the milk.

Stir in the flour until the mixture is smooth and well combined.

Spoon into the prepared tin and level the surface.

Bake for approximately 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the sponge comes out clean. Another good sign is if the sponge is just pulling away from the edge of the tin.

Leave to cool in the tin for about 20 minutes before turning out and leaving to cool completely on a wire rack.

Store the cake in an airtight tin overnight – this will firm the sponge and make it easier to carve.

One day before serving: Slice the sponge cake into three even layers.

Line the springform tin you baked the cake in with clingfilm, then wrap the outside in foil. This is so no jelly or custard can escape while it’s setting.  I have an adjustable cake ring so used that – but it’s important to get a tight fit around the sponge.  Also, ensure that the foil (or baking paper) comes up above the height of the tin – this is a tall cake.

Sit the bottom disc of sponge in the bottom of the lined tin.

Now make a pint of custard as per the instructions on the custard pot.  Don’t use fresh custard as it won’t set firm enough to support the cake.

Allow the custard to cool a little but not so much that it sets.

Pour the custard onto the sponge base and level the surface.

Press  the middle disc of sponge onto the top; doing this now will prevent a skin forming.

Refrigerate for about 2-4 hours or until the custard is very firm.

Now make the jelly per the packet instructions.  Leave to cool as you don’t want to upset the set custard.

Remove the cake from the fridge and pour over just enough jelly to soak into the sponge and saturate it – you know when it’s enough as the liquid jelly will start to pool on the sponge.

Put back in the fridge – once this firms up it will act as a seal and ensure that the rest of the jelly sets around the fruit.

Tip out the contents of a tin of fruit cocktail into a sieve, you don’t need the juice.

Spoon the fruit onto the top sponge disc and spread out into an even layer.

Pour the remaining cooled jelly over the fruit.

Gently place the remaining disc of sponge on top and loosely cover the tin with clingfilm.  (You want to put the remaining sponge on now as the jelly will set against it and hold all the layers in place)

Place in the fridge and leave to set – this will take several hours and is best left overnight.

On the day of serving decorate with whipped cream and chocolate.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have made.

Eat.

Snowball jellies

The saddest sign that Christmas is well and truly over is the empty Advocaat bottle. Yes, I know you can buy Advocaat all year round but, for me, it is THE seasonal drink. A snowball is such a wonderful thing – like drinking fizzy custard –that I rue the end of its season.

But what to do if you have some Advocaat left over? My suggestion is snowball jellies! This idea came to me one day, probably when I should have been thinking about something far more important, but hey, never look a gift horse in the mouth!

For the uninitiated, a snowball is a drink made up of Advocaat, lemonade with a twist of lime (7up or Sprite is perfect) and it is served in a long glass over ice. At least that’s how Mr CC and I enjoy it. Make sure you stir it well because the Advocaat is much more viscous than the lemonade and it has a tendency to settle out leaving you with a thick layer of pure Advocaat in the bottom of your glass (oh, the horror!)

The trick with this jelly is to add the Sprite as late as possible then get it in the fridge as quickly as possible. Manage that and you have the strange sensation of fizzy jelly – a bizarre feeling on your tongue. But nice...and boozy!

Ingredients

8 gelatine leaves
250ml Advocaat
660ml i.e. 2 cans of 7up or Sprite – I used Sprite Zero

Method

Place the gelatine leaves in a bowl of cold water to soften.

Pour the Advocaat into a saucepan, which is large enough to take all the Sprite.

Bring the Advocaat gently to the boil, then remove from the heat.

Squeeze all the water out of the gelatine leaves and whisk into the Advocaat. You will be able to see when all the gelatine has dissolved.

Leave the Advocaat to cool before adding the Sprite – this is to try and keep some fizz in the finished jelly.

Gently whisk in the Sprite and leave it for a couple of minutes for the froth to calm down.

Ladle the jelly into small bowls or ramekins (I got 6 out of mine) and place in the fridge straight away – again, this is to try and retain some fizz.

Leave to set for several hours or, preferably, overnight.

Serve straight from the fridge as required and top with some cream but this isn’t necessary.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have created.

Eat.

Damson Jelly

Please stop sniggering long enough to read this very serious post on jelly making! Mr CC and I went to a local antiques fair last month and I was delighted to find a ceramic cone jelly mould. Once I’d checked it over for cracks and found none, I was so excited I almost forgot to haggle. Almost! My vintage mould cost me £12, which seems ridiculously cheap.

Making a jelly with damsons as beautiful as these cannot result in anything less than deliciousness!

Ceramic, like glass, can be a nightmare for turning out jellies therefore I made this jelly much firmer set than I usually would. Also, this mould is tall and tapers towards the top making it far less stable than a lower, rounder jelly. I gave the very tip of the mould a squirt of cake release spray and I think this helped (you don’t taste it).

Turning out a jelly is always a heart in your mouth moment but thankfully, this one came out perfectly. As you can see, it suffered a little with “Brewer’s droop” but that didn’t matter as it caused mirth all round...a little too much mirth perhaps, we reverted to 5 year olds. And yes, I am fully aware of what it looks like!

Damson plums have such a lovely fruity flavour that they are perfectly suited to jams and jellies. Didn’t it come out a pretty colour?

Ingredients

Note – this is the basic quantity for the jelly – you can scale it up as required but allow extra setting time. For my mould I used 1.5x the quantities.
8 leaves gelatine
750g damsons – washed, but no need to stone
225g caster sugar
600ml cold water

To serve: cream

Method

Start by soaking the gelatine leaves in cold water until they are soft.
Place the damsons, sugar and water in a saucepan and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved.
Simmer further and mash the damsons with a spoon or – and I found this really productive – the masher you’d use to make mash potato.
The stones will naturally come out of the fruit and be captured in the next stage.
Pass through a sieve and return the liquid to a clean pan.
Heat gently and then remove the pan from the heat.
Squeeze all the water from the gelatine and whisk into the damson juice – it will dissolve very quickly.
Leave the jelly to cool a little.
Pass through a sieve into your chosen mould – sieving again will strain out any bits that passed through first time.
Chill until set – I left overnight.
Turn out of the jelly mould any way that you find works for you! For this ceramic mould we stood it in warm water for a minute then gave it a vigorous shake!
Serve with cream.
Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have made.
Eat.

Pies, puddings, jelly and ice cream – Ickworth House

As part of my birthday present last year Mr CC booked us to attend the above named event at Ickworth House. The house and grounds are spectacular enough to warrant a visit but when you add a historic jelly and ice cream masterclass from one of the country’s premier food historians – Ivan Day – you’ll agree that a good day out just became a great day out! Here’s Ivan making his ice cream:

During his fascinating talk and demonstration Ivan covered the history of jelly and ice cream, at the same time making ice cream using only an ice pail, freezing pot and spaddle (a spatula/paddle cross). Notice that the table has a slope on one side for the melting ice to run off:

In this photo you can actually see the melted ice dripping off the slope:

The ice cream was ginger and lemon; as a lemon hater I have to admit it was beautiful. The texture was so light and smooth ...probably helped by the ice cream being made with cream rather than a custard base!

We were all invited to approach the spaddle with a teaspoon and help ourselves to a taster. I would happily have walked off with the spaddle! Mr CC, as is his way, merely turned to me and said of the ice cream, "make it happen." I have since obtained the recipe from Ivan and will be making [it happen!] soon.

Ivan brought a beautiful collection of antique ice cream moulds for us to look at:

My favourite, by far, was the tiny Cleopatra’s needle/obelisk/pyramid shaped hinged mould that had minute hieroglyphs cast into it in relief, so when the ice cream was turned out it would have perfect markings all over it:

It was probably the jellies that proved to be the crowd pleasers! Ivan certainly deserves some sort of bravery award for turning out four complicated jellies in front of an audience of 50 people...of course, they all turned out perfectly! Sadly, because the tin lining of the moulds was no longer intact, the jellies could only be admired visually.

I’d never seen such complicated moulds before. This one has fitted spirals moulds within the mould so that a stunning two-tone jelly can be created:

The jelly produced by this mould actually drew gasps from the crowd:

Indulge me while I ogle it some more!

A slightly simpler insert mould produced an equally bold result. The white cross (as for the spirals in the previous jelly) is made from flummery which is an early forerunner of blancmange.

While it may not have had the technical dazzle of the previous two moulds, I loved the look of this star mould:

This ceramic mould relies on simplicity and clean lines for its appeal. Ivan explained that in Edwardian/Victorian times this dessert would have garnered giggles and blushes from the ladies present at the table...I wonder why?!

I’m really getting into my jelly making and am frustrated that no one is making modern food-safe jelly moulds like this anymore. Of course, I dream of owning vintage moulds but when Ivan told me that the more complicated moulds can sell for around the £1,000 mark I realised (much to Mr CC’s relief) that it would probably remain just a dream...unless my lottery ticket comes up trumps!

In case you’re wondering, the “pies and puddings” part of the course name related to the lunch we were given. Any menu card that lists the puddings (steamed chocolate sponge with chocolate custard, jam roly poly and apple crumble with custard) stating “please come back for as much pudding as you want” is a winner with me!

This was a wonderful experience (thanks Mr CC...you buy awesome pressies!) and I can thoroughly recommend attending any talks by Ivan Day. On his site there are details of various courses he runs...one of which is historic ice cream making...mmm, how long is it till my next birthday?