WEEKEND DOUBTS AND A BIRTHDAY

Today a friend celebrates his **th birthday and I obviously wanted to partecipate in my very own way. The fact is that - as far as I remember - this friend likes cheesecakes A LOT.

But I didn’t have the *right* ingredients for a real cheesecake; instead - thanks to my late crush on tiramisù - I always have a good dose of mascarpone and ladyfingers (also known as Savoiardi) in my cupboard.

But preparing a tiramisù to celebrate the mentioned friend didn’t just seem to be the right thing to do... so after a few hours spent thinking about it (in the meantime I actually had beers with friends... I’m not THAT much of a freak :P) I decided to go for a deconstructed tiramisù/cheesecake :). So, here we go! Happy Birthday, Stefano!

Tiramisù cheesecake

Base:

50g ladyfingers

30g butter

Mascarpone cream:

100g mascarpone cheese

2 tablespoons brown vanilla sugar

100g + 2 tablespoon whipped cream

1,66g (1 sheet) gelatine leaf

Choco-coffee cream:

75g dark chocolate

1 tablespoon milk

3 tablespoon coffee

1,66g (1 sheet) gelatine leaf


Prepare good espresso coffee and let it cool.

Melt the butter and mix it with the crumbled ladyfingers. Divide the crumbles in 2 glasses or cooking rings (mine were 8cm) wrapped - inside - with acetate ribbon*.

Prepare the mascarpone cream mixing the cheese with vanilla sugar and whipped cream. Soften the gelatin with water into a bowl; heat 2 tablespoons of whipped cream and melt 1 sheet of gelatin into it. Add it to the mascarpone cream and pour it on the crumbled biscuits.

Refrigerate for 1 hour or until the mascarpone layer thickened. In the meantime prepare the choco-coffee cream, melting the chocolate together with a tablespoon of milk, then adding the coffee.

Heat 1 spoon of whipped cream and melt the gelatin into it. Add the cream+gelatin to the choco-coffee cream and pour it on the mascarpone layer. Refrigerate for another hour until the 2nd layer thickened, then remove the little cheesecake from the acetate ribbon and steel ring and serve.

* Acetate ribbon is a medium gauge clear plastic often used for cake decorating and chocolate work. Sold in rolls, it can be found in baking supply stores.

GÂTEAU CHOCO-MARRON MERINGUÉ

Every time I go to France I of course come back with food and products that I can hardly find here or that I simply find interesting and nice-looking.

It’s the case of this nice chestnut spread with a vintage design, created by Clément Faugier :).

Well, it was staring at me from my cupboard when I finally found, on Saveur, a very warm and wintery recipe to use it. I’ve already tried it twice, changing and adding ingredients to the original recipe, and I have to admit I really loved the results.

I would suggest to keep the cake “fondant” (that means that the inside has to be moist and not completely cooked) but If you like the consistency of a cake mixture just leave it in the oven for a few more minutes :).




Gateau choco-marron meringué (adapted from Saveur):

250g butter
200g chocolate
80g chestnut spread
150g icing sugar
4 eggs
100g all purpose flour
50g chestnut flour (you can find it in any bio-shop)
110g canned chestnut (normally they are simply boiled), crumbled
50g Maizena

Meringue:

2 egg whites
40g caster sugar
4 marrons glacés (optional)
salt

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Butter and flour 4 small cake pans or a single one (24cm) and line the bottoms with parchment paper.

Melt the butter and the chocolate in the microwave (or au bain marie), then add the chestnut cream.

In another bowl whisk the eggs and the icing sugar, until the mix becomes frothy then add chestnut and wheat flours, Maizena and the chocolate mix. Stir the crumbled chestnuts into the mixture and pour it all into the pans.

Bake 20-25 min the mini-pans or 25-30 the big one; as I said you can leave the cake in the oven a bit longer if you don’t like the fondant texture.
Take out from the oven and let it cool down.

For the meringue: beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt, then add the sugar and keep on beating for another minute. Spread the meringue on the cakes, crumble the marron glacés on it and brown the meringue with a blowtorch (my favourite :)) or under the grill-oven for 2 or 3 minutes.