11.11.2014

schwarzwälder.

{ black forest cheesecake }


i don't always bake cake every other day
or even once a week.

but when i do
i feel this urge to expand myself
in terms of kind, composition and flavour.

took this cake to the office today

so maybe this recipe brings nothing new.

truth be told, i have already made and even posted a brownie cheesecake at least once (here), and one should recognize that cherry-chocolate is a bluntly cliché match.

however, this is not your normal brownie cheesecake, neither it is the usual cherry-chocolate-cream combo, commonly known as the black forest cake.

no. a black forest cake was simply too cliché. i had to make something different...

in the beginning, after hours of thinking and sketching (yes, i do draw cross-sections and 3D views of my cakes) i was pretty sure i'ld be making a chocolate layer cake with a pistachio frosting, but a trip to the supermarket after work quickly proved me wrong: there were no pistachio bags left.
having less than thirty minutes left for shopping, i just ran home with all i could fathom to handle - flour, sugar, eggs, brown sugar, cocoa, cream cheese, creme fraiche, quark, butter, cherries, corn starch (well you really don't wanna know exactly how much stuff i brought home!), very hungry and back to square one on my baking project.

after a couple more hours of thinking, sketching and total indecisiveness, though at least already sure i was going to use cherries (my second flavour-wise baking-craving after the pistachios), i surrended myself to the idea of making a black forest cake. though... i didn't want to make a black forest cake. i prefer to spice things up a little bit.
so what i finally decided to do was to invert the black forest: a thick white layer with no cream at all  - which i like to call the 'snow' - paired with a thin but really bold dark layer - the 'black forest' -, and pretty cherries appearing in the cut snow as polka dots - which I have keine ahnung what they stand for.
hence,

today,
i present you the black forest cheesecake.


(all cakes usually start like this)


(but not all of them come to look like this)

Schwarzwälder Kirsch-Käsekuchen
(Cheesecake Floresta Negra de Cereja)
Base de Brownie:
225g de manteiga
1 chávena de açúcar amarelo
1 chávena de açúcar normal
1 + 1/2 chávena de cacau
4 ovos
uma pitada de sal
1/4 de chávena de amêndoa ralada
1/4 de chávena de farinha

Cheesecake:
600g de queijo fresco tipo philadelphia
500g de queijo quark magro
100g de açúcar
aroma de baunilha
7 folhas de gelatina
sumo de meio limão
2 colheres de sopa de maple syrup
1 frasco grande de cerejas doces descaroçadas

Preparar o brownie: derreter a manteiga e deixar arrefecer,
Misturar o cacau, os açúcares e o sal numa taça grande,
Verter a manteiga por cima, mexendo sempre,
Adicionar os ovos um a um, mexendo vigorosamente entre adições, e por fim incorporar a farinha,
Deitar num tabuleiro rectangular pequeno e fundo, forrado com papel vegetal, e levar ao forno cerca de 20-25 min a 160ºC,
Desenformar o brownie e deixar arrefecer; cortar um círculo à medida de uma forma de fundo amovível e colocar essa parte no fundo da forma; fechar a forma; utilizar o restante brownie, esmigalhado, para forrar os lados;
Preparar o cheesecake: derreter a gelatina no sumo de limão aquecido com um pouco de água,
Bater os queijos com o açúcar, juntar todos os outros ingredientes excepto as cerejas e bater novamente,
Incorporar as cerejas bem escorridas,
Verter a mistura de queijo dentro da forma e levar ao frigorífico pelo menos 2-3 horas,
Ao servir, finalizar com um pouco de doce misturado com água.

Schwarzwälder Kirsch-Käsekuchen
(Black Forest Cherry Cheesecake)
Brownie Bottom:
225g butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup regular sugar
1 + 1/2 cup cocoa
4 eggs
salt
1/4 cup almond meal
1/4 cup flour

Cheesecake:
600g cream cheese
500g low fat quark cheese
100g sugar
vanilla aroma
7 gelatin leaves
juice of half lemon
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 big jar of pitted cherries

Make the brownie: melt the butter and let cool,
In a big bowl, combine cocoa, sugars and salt,
Pour over the butter, stirring,
Add the eggs one at the time, stirring vigorously after each addition, and at last mix in the flour,
Pour in a small rectangular baking tray, lined with parchment paper, and bake at 160ºC for about 20-25 minutes,
Let cool; cut a circle the size of a removable bottom pan and line the bottom of this pan with this circle; close the mould; crumble remaining brownie and stick it to the sides of the pan;
Prepare the cheesecake: melt the gelatin in the warm lemon juice with a bit of water,
Beat cheeses with sugar, add all remaining ingredients except the cherries and beat again,
Fold in the drained cherries,
Pour the cheese mixture inside the pan and place in the fridge for about 2-3 hours,
Finish with a bit of jam combined with in a little bit of water.


it's crazy how quick this cake is to prepare: it took me under one hour!

4 comments:

  1. woowww!
    but after all the planning and projecting and thinking and sketching "under one hour" should be expected :D
    LOVE YOU

    ReplyDelete
  2. Inês, este cheese está simplesmente magnifico, lindo de morrer!!! ;)
    Adoro ve-los assim altos e bem "suculentos".

    Bjinhos

    ReplyDelete
  3. Quando o fazes, fica sempre perfeito! Adorei a receita e as fotos, de ficar a salivar!
    -
    Diogo Marques
    Blog: A culpa é das bolachas! | Facebook | Instagram
    -

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow! What a showstopper! This cake looks incredible :)

    ReplyDelete