I hurt my ankle yesterday trying to do something stupid. I’d rather not get into the embarassing details, but let’s just say it involved as innocuous a task as hanging up the laundry. Which just goes to show that the path of Domesticity is fraught with too many dangers and should best be avoided at all costs! Lucky for me it’s my day off, as I wouldn’t have relished the thought of having to hobble around work with a dodgy ankle. B has recommended lots of rest and sitting in front of the TV, but stuff that, I’d rather be in our kitchen, trying out a new recipe and listening to something I discovered we had albums of : 80’s Madonna!

So while I’m hobble-dancing around to the ma-ma-ma-material girl, here is something I had bookmarked to try. A deconstructed cheesecake which Elizabeth Falkner calls Waking Up In A City That Never Sleeps. Her version consists of cheesecake custard, sour cream sorbet, graham cracker powder and blueberry paper. I made mine with lemon sorbet, raspberry sorbet, ginger crumbs and raspberry paper.

I’ve never been a huge fan of cheesecake, but was attracted to this recipe because I like the flavours that we commonly associate with cheesecake. What usually trips the whole thing up for me is when the filling is dense and cloying, and the base has lost it’s contrasting texture.

Here however, the traditional cheesecake has been taken apart and each component allowed to shine. The cream cheese custard is light (though not as light as I hoped it would be), the sorbets add a refreshing element to the whole and the raspberry paper is just plain fun.

Fun, because isn’t that what eating dessert is a big part of? 🙂

[Jay is helping Sam get back into the dating scene]
Sam Baldwin: What is “tiramisu”?
Jay: You’ll find out.
Sam Baldwin: Well, what is it?
Jay: You’ll see!
Sam Baldwin: Some woman is gonna want me to do it to her and I’m not gonna know what it is!

Tom Hanks’ character in Sleepless in Seattle feels about tiramisu the same way I do about cheesecake. What is cheesecake? Some sort of mysterious entity that seduces women (do we ever see men in Sara Lee commercials?), and dates back as far as ancient grecian times where it was served to athletes at the olympic games. From my past experience, cheesecake has usually translated as a heavy, rich and extremely filling affair. With a soggy biscuit base.

Despite this, every now and again a cheesecake comes along that makes me eat it, and my words. Lorraine Godsmark of Yellow Bistro makes the most divine New York style cheesecake, that I could eat any day. This one, by Kate Zuckerman from her fantastic book The Sweet Life is another contender : Goat Cheesecake enrobed in Hazelnut Brittle (my variation being the substitution of macadamia nuts for hazelnuts) is not only just as is described; tangy and light, but the mere words “enrobed” and “brittle” also had me hooked from the start.

Once the cheesecake is unmolded, the crunchy brittle is patted or pressed against the top and sides. You can serve this with a sauce or compote, but I like it on its own, as a silky, luxurious treat.

Goat Cheesecakes :

1 egg
1 egg yolk
1/2 cup sugar
pinch of salt
300g fresh goat cheese, at room temperature
140g creme fraiche

Preheat the oven to 150’C. Butter or oil individual ramekins or molds.

Combine the eggs, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl and whisk for 1 to 2 minutes. Whisk in the goat cheese until smooth. Add the creme fraiche and whisk for 1 minute. Do not overmix or the cheesecake will have a grainy texture.

Spread the batter in the prepared molds. Bake for 20 to 24 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking process, until the cheesecakes are set in the center or a thermometer in the center of the cheesecake reads between 65’C and 76’C. If the cheesecakes start to rise, remove them from the oven immediately.

Remove the cheesecakes from the oven and allow to cool. Transfer to the refrigerator and chill for 30 minutes before removing from molds.

(For more cheesecake creations, check out Culinary Concoctions by Peabody.)