Medal of Honour (Raspberry Cheesecake)

 

When I lived with flatmates (Straightie and AJ) a couple of years ago, we used to have a medal of honour given for acts of extra-ordinary bravery or deeds which benefited our little flat.

It all started one morning at about 6.30am when Straightie was ironing her shirt downstairs. I heard a blood curdling scream and jumped out of my nice comfy doona (duvet) cocoon and ran downstairs. There was Straightie standing next to the ironing board surrounded by shards of glass. It turns out that the lightbulb above her had exploded in about a 1m radius burning little holes into the carpet where the shards landed! Luckily, Straightie (and her shirt) were OK. (Let it be said in writing that the two men in the house, Invalid and AJ, were sleeping soundly).

Standing among the debris, Straightie and I decided unanimously that she deserved a medal. This story (and of course, the need for a medal of bravery) was repeated throughout the day and at the dinner table when we had friends over for dinner.

Then we remembered! We had a medal in our cupboard…a gold medal (albeit a fake plastic gold in the cupboard left over from our three-legged race at our birthday the previous year). So Straightie was awarded the inaugural medal of honour.

Thereafter the medal hung proudly from our lamp, waiting to be awarded to the next worthy recipient.

And sure enough, one night we were sitting around mulling about how we really felt like cheesecake. And so I decided, why don’t we go and get cheesecake from Corelli’s?

And we did. And for that I was given the medal. If you think it is going a bit overboard to give a medal for fetching cheesecake, you haven’t tasted that cheesecake.

This cheesecake is not quite as good Corelli’s but I like to think it is almost there.  It is nice and light with enough richness without being heavy and definitely not too sweet. It was inspired by a friend’s competition winning berry brunch pizza. I have forgotten the original recipe so have played with it over the years. You can substitute the cottage cheese for ricotta and the cream cheese for marscapone.

Ingredients

Base

200g oat crunchies (ANZAC biscuits for my Aussie friends)

50g butter

1 tsp cinnamon

Filling

250g cream cheese

250g smooth cottage cheese

¼ cup sugar

Zest of ½ a lemon

2 eggs

Topping

¾ cup of raspberries

1 tsp cornflour

3 tbsp water

2 tsp

Base

Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Place the cookies in the foodprocessor and process until fine. Add the cinnamon.

Melt the butter in a cup. Add the butter gradually to the cookie crumbs and pulse in between until the crumbs come together to resemble a mass (rather than lots of crumbs). Be careful not to add too much butter, or it will become slimy.

Line a cake tin with a removable base with baking paper. Grease the edges with a little of the remaining melted butter.

[I like to use a small (18cm diameter) cake tin – more impressive cake slices and not so much cake to each afterwards to make you sick. This recipe also works with a 25cm tin]

Pour the crumb mixture into the lined tin and spread evenly over the base. Use your fingers or a flat bottomed glass the press the crumbs down in the tin so they cover the base evenly. Push the crumbs about 1cm up the side of the tin to form a small border. Use a fork to prick the base several times.

 

Place in the oven and bake for 10 min (or until the edges brown slightly).

Remove from oven and cool slighty.

Filling

Place cream cheese, cottage cheese, eggs and sugar into a foodprocessor (or bowl). Mix until smooth. 

Pour onto the slightly cooled base.

Put in the oven for 25-30min until the edges are brown and the middle starting the be firm to the touch (It will still be soft but will feel set when you touch it)

Take the cake out of the oven and switch the oven off. Don’t worry if the top cracks a bit.

Topping

Place the raspberries and sugar in a small pot. Dissolve the cornflour in the water and add to the pot. 

Switch the stove onto medium heat and bring to a simmer. Simmer for a few minutes and then turn off the heat.

Allow to cool.

When the cake and raspberry mixture are cool, pour the raspberry mixture over the cake. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving.

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[On raspberries: once every few months I go to Hillcrest Berry Orchards near Stellenbosch and buy frozen raspberry crumble (not so perfect bits of raspberries) for the freezer! A good way to eat raspberries without breaking the bank.]