Make this if you dare!
Life changing spiced pumpkin cheesecake baked to the very edge of darkness, tricked up with a layer of chai spiced milk chocolate cream and pumpkin.
Each cheesecake is topped with a chocolate cobweb and a chocolate spider.
The cheesecake contains three luxurious creams, thick cream, cream cheese and mascarpone.
Makes 1 X 15cm Cheesecake
Components
Roast pumpkin puree
Chai spiced milk chocolate cream
Pumpkin cream
Spiced pumpkin cheesecake
Roast Pumpkin Puree
Ingredients
Pumpkin wedges
Method
- Wrap the pumpkin in foil and bake in an oven pre-heated to 200°C for 30-35 minutes or until soft. Open the foil and put the pumpkin back in the oven for a further 10 minutes to roast up some edges.
- Scoop the cooked pumpkin flesh into a blender, puree until smooth.
- Store in the fridge or freezer until needed. Reserve for the cheesecake and pumpkin cream. (See below)
Pumpkin Cream
Ingredients
175 g Pumpkin puree
40 g (2) Egg yolks
40 g Caster sugar
4 g Gelatine, gold leaves
40 g Unsalted butter
Method
- Place the puree, yolks and sugar into a bowl and mix well with a hand whisk to combine.
- Transfer the mix into a saucepan and stir constantly with a spatula over a low to medium heat until a temperature of 85°C is reached.
- Remove from the heat and pour the custard into a tall narrow, cylindrical container or jug and add the soaked gelatine and butter.
- Use a handheld blender to emulsify and blend the mixture to a smooth cream.
- Pour 55 g of the cream into 1 X 8 cm diameter round silicone disc mould and freeze. Store in the freezer until needed.
Spiced Chai Milk Chocolate Cream
Ingredients
100 g Cream, thickened (A)
1 tsp Glucose
10 g Spiced Chai tea
125 g Milk chocolate
210 g Cream, thickened (B)
5 g Gelatine, gold leaves
Method
- Soak the gelatine in cold water for a few minutes to soften before draining and discarding the water.
- Place the chocolate into a bowl or jug.
- Boil the cream (A) and glucose in a small saucepan and remove from the heat, add the tea, and infuse for ten minutes. Reboil and remove from the heat, add the soaked gelatine, stir to melt and strain the liquid through a sieve onto the milk chocolate.
- Leave to sit for 30 seconds before mixing well with a whisk or hand blender to emulsify.
- Add the cream (B) and stir in.
- Pour 55 g of the cream into 1 X 8 cm diameter round silicone disc mould and freeze hard and leave in the freezer.
- Use the remaining cream in a dessert.
Pumpkin Cheesecake
Ingredients
165 g (3no.) Eggs, lightly beaten
500 g Cream cheese, softened
150 g Sugar, caster
125 g Mascarpone
75 g Cream
175 g Pumpkin cream
15 g Flour, plain
1 g Cardamom, ground
1 g Clove, ground
1 g Nutmeg, ground
2 g Ginger, ground
2 g Cinnamon, ground
1 g Anise, ground
1 g Allspice, ground
1 Vanilla pods, seeds scraped
Tsp Salt
Method
- Preheat oven to 200°C/390°F (180°C fan). Line a standard baking tray with baking/parchment paper.
- Spray a 15 cm diameter baking tin. Cut a large circle of baking parchment and push into the lightly sprayed ring to the edges, you want the paper crinkled, not neat. Lightly spray the inside of the paper.
- Place the eggs into a stand mixer and mix on a medium speed for 20 seconds.
- Add cream cheese and mix again for 30 seconds to a minute on a medium to high speed.
- Scrape down the inside sides of the bowl with a scraper and again mix or 30 on a medium to high speed (or until smooth).
- Add the sugar and mix again 60 secs.
- Scrape down the sides and add the cream, mascarpone, pumpkin puree, vanilla seeds, spices and salt. Mix well until smooth.
- Add the flour and mix again for a minute
- Fill each ring with the mix.
- Push into the mix the frozen disc of milk chocolate cream and the frozen disc of pumpkin cream and push down gently to submerge.
- Bake in the preheated oven turned down to 190C for 45 minutes.
At B&P we finished these cheesecakes with an orange chocolate spray (applied to a cold cheesecake) and chocolate cobwebs and spiders.