Mama Mary's Birthday - Special Love Cheesecake

I have been offline for quite a few days as I mentioned in my recent post on Onam's Special Vermecilli Milk Pudding. Mama Mary's Birthday falls on September 8th. The Virgin Mother Mary as we affectionately call her Mama Mary is a proud celebration in our home everyday. Especially because my daughter Izzy inherited her baptismal name Mary from her Godma and ever since she was a baby we have noticed how she has been drawn to Mama Mary. She calls her fondly as Ammama (which is our native language means Mother of my mother). Rightly said by a little one! Mama Mary is definitely her patron saint! September 8th is celebrated as the Nativity of our Virgin Mother or the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. If you would like to learn more, please visit this link

Mama Mary's Birthday Love Cheesecake

We had been fasting for 7 days prior to the Nativity Feast and I wanted to do something special for her birthday. So I decided to bake her a cake full of love. I had posted a Cheesecake recipe of George Colambaris, one that I had made on A's birthday last July. Well this is a less complicated one and is more in line with the cheesecakes I have made since I was all of 18 yrs old. I think George made a reference to this type of 'cake base' in the MC Australia when he made his unforgettable Cheesecake.

For those of you in India, please do not be tempted to buy Amul's Cheddar Cheese as it turns out to be too salty and if you have no other option, then do add an additional cup of cream to the cheese mix. Try to get the uncanned variety of cheddar cheese that you could get from Godrej's Nature basket or Spar or some such other outlet that sells loose cheddar cheese. These varieties normally have less salt in the mix. You can also opt for the imported Kraft in case you are opting for the canned variety

You need:

• 300 gms of cheddar cheese (grated)
• 250 gms of Ricotta Cheese
• 400 gms of fresh full cream or whipping cream (if you are using one with less fat%, try not to add the loosened water that settles at the base of the pack. Also try to get gelatine and use as per package instructions if required)
• 500 gms of powdered sugar or castor sugar
• 1 packet of your choice of packaged jelly powder (I used raspberry, you can favour your choice of flavour)
• 1 large packet of Marie Biscuits (break each biscuit into quarters)
• 400 gms of butter (room temperature, cut into cubes)
• 1 vanilla pod or 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 8-10 blanched almonds - chopped finely (optional)

The make:

Preparation Time: 30 minutes| Cooking Time: 20 minutes| Serves 6-8 adults

• Powder the quartered biscuits. In case you have a food processor or a grinder, you can use this to powder the biscuits. Otherwise, just place some of the biscuit quarters in the middle of a newspaper and fold the newspaper. Run a rolling pin over the biscuits. Check to see if the biscuits are powdered well and no lumps are present. Repeat this until all the biscuits have been powdered and set aside in a large bowl.
• Add about 100 gms of the sugar to the biscuit mix and mix well (either by hand or with a spoon). Add the butter cubes bit by bit into the biscuit mix and mix well. You will wind up with a rough edges but well-oiled biscuit mix. If you think it is still very dry, add some more butter but do ensure it is not too oily or runny. Tip: Do not melt the butter over heat
• Choose a cake tray of a size that will ensure that the biscuit mix once pressed and set at the bottom of the cake tray, will provide at least 1/2" or 1" height. A 7.5" to 8" round cake tin should suffice. I used a heart-shaped tin of 8.5" as I did not have a smaller tin of the same shape. Grease the base (in case you are using a spring cake tin) or line first with foil only on the base (not sides) and then with double-sheets of parchment paper/butter paper so as to enable to pick it out of the tray easily once done. I would recommend with cheesecakes to invest in a spring cake tray (I need to get one for myself as well) as the edge gets uneven even if you use parchment paper.

Biscuit base on parchment paper

• Now place the biscuit mix on the base of the tin evenly and press down. I normally do not bake the base but you can bake it for at least 15 minutes if you want a golden brown crust at medium heat about 215°C (415°F). Once this is  done, leave it to cool to room temperature and turn it to the refrigerator at normal temperature. Ensure that your fridge is not set on high or your biscuit base would be too hard. 
• Next turn the grated cheddar cheese to a blender and add the ricotta, vanilla and cream. Blend for about 3-4 beats on medium setting. Do not over beat or you will end up with a runny mixture. Tip: please keep a packet of gelatine handy in case you end up with a runny mix. The cheese mix should be slightly less thick than a normal flour based cake mix. Gently fold in the remaining sugar bit by bit into the cheese mix. Taste the mix if it is too salty, add another cup of cream. It should only be a tad salty or it will overpower the cake and make it difficult to consume. After all a dessert should be more sweet or bitter than salty any day.

Layering the cheese on the biscuit base

• Take out the cake tray from the fridge and layer it with the cheese topping. Top with chopped almonds. Return it to the fridge to set on a higher setting(not highest).

• After about 20-30 minutes, when the cheese topping is firm, prepare the jelly mix and allow it to arrive at room temperature and add it on top of the cheese mix. Tip: Please be careful to ensure that the jelly mix is not hot or set otherwise you will end up with the cheese of the jelly's colour or a lumpy topping. Since I was making a heart shaped cake, I wanted a layered topping and hence I had placed the jelly in the fridge to set first and then I scooped it out with a flat spoon and layered it on top of the cake to give a more 3-D heart image.

Layered with almonds and jelly mix on the side

• Return it to the fridge on normal setting until ready to serve. Once ready to serve, slowly lift the parchment paper, taking care to ensure that it does not tear. You will need a cake spatula so as to remove parchment paper from the base and carefully place it on your serving tray/cake board. Tip: To avoid this please invest in a spring tray. 
• You can top the cake slices with whip cream while serving if you like.

Closeup of the cake

Layered Cheesecake

Special Love Cheesecake

George Colambaris' Lemon and Ricotta Cheesecake with Fruit Salad

I thought that since this is a month of celebrations, an innumerable of my loved ones' birthdays and anniversaries this month and also because my blog crossed 2000 visitors, this post would be a celebration of all sorts. Thank you for visiting my blog and for cheering me on through your wonderful inspiration and kind words.

My take on George Colambaris' Lemon and Ricotta Cheese cake with  Fruit Salad

Georgie aka George Colambaris is also one of my favourite chefs and no its not only because of his name being similar to mine and us sharing a common nick name.

It was my hubbykins birthday about two weeks ago and I made him this divine cheese cake. 'A' does not have a particular favourite cake per say(can you imagine) but he did want a cheese cake so I decided to go with GC's Cheese cake. Given the limitations of availability of some of the ingredients and kitchen equipment that Mr. Colambaris used in his original recipe, I made best of what produce and equipment I had available in Hyderabad, India and at home. I decided to also put up some of the pictures which are not so pretty to let you know what not to do when you make this cake (get the right sized cake tray and the correct shape. Make sure it is a spring cake tray if you are following this recipe to the 'T').

For those of you in Hyd., I got my Ricotta cheese from Godrej's Nature Basket which incidentally also hosted a pin-up ad of MasterChef Australia's judges on one of their walls. Ricotta had the best price at this store among the many I visited. Also since there were not many options for the fruits, I chose cherry and plum (from what was left over from the sorbet) and some fresh sweet lime. It was a winning compliment for the cheesey cake (no pun intended).  I could have used pomegranate, melons, tender coconut and mango. May be next time!

I used the right quantities of George's cheese layer as I had to make it as perfect as possible for A's birthday celebration. Two things I used that did not work in my favour. One was that I never lined up a cake tray with parchment or butter paper ever, especially in a spring cake tray. So this was my first of doing so and the second was that, of my available spring cake trays, the one I used was probably better for a quiche as it had a rim which was not plain round and with arches. So that was a mistake as you would see from the rim in the picture that it was uneven but when served, it did not pose much of a problem. Also I had to redo it with foil as the cake tray I used was the wrong kind causing the cheese to run the first time. 

Birthday cake

I would have loved for a taller and less wider cake tray. So I will make sure to buy one before attempting this recipe the next time around. I have made many a cheese cake earlier but always similar to George's mention in MC where his friends used a basic Marie biscuit for the base ingredient. Since I also had some utility issues in our apartment, I chose to do the same as I did in the past for my base. Other than that the cheese mix was exactly how George mentions in his recipe. 

For the Plum Sorbet, I used my mixer since I did not have a ice cream churner. It turned out fine in terms of flavour but not perfect in terms of its texture (not as perfect as George's I would imagine considering the lack of the ice cream churner!).

So for my home version of George's Lemon and Ricotta Cheesecake with Fruit Salad

You need:


Biscuit base

• 2 large packs of Marie Bisuits (powdered) *I used only one but its best to use 2
• 50 gms of powdered almond or almond meal
• 25g of castor sugar or powdered sugar (you can also used refined sugar)

Ricotta Cheesecake Mix

Vanilla bean

• 200g cream cheese
• 160g ricotta, drained through a muslin cloth
• 100g whole eggs (or 2 whole eggs)
• 25g egg yolks (or 1 egg yolk)
• 70g caster sugar
• 90ml pure cream (I got mine from Ratnadeep which was the closest to full pure cream)
• 1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped (again from Nature's basket)
• Zest of one lemon (I used the sweet lime as the large lemon was unavailable)

Plum sorbet

• 170ml water
• 170g sugar
• 450g blood plums, roughly chopped and seeds removed (I got this from Nature's Basket as well - Indian variety. Luckily it came in different sizes in one pack so I used the smaller ones for the fruit salad)

Fruit salad

• 1 tbsp  of Crème fraiche (or light sour cream)
• Cherries, Sweet lime, Small plums (remove seeds)

The Make:

Serves 6-8 adults, Preparation Time: 8 hrs(min. resting time), 1 hour, Cooking Time: 45 minutes

For the Biscuit base (my make - George prepared one with flour):

1. Preheat oven to 165°C(which is medium heat or Gas Mark 3). Grease and baking paper line the base of a 20cm 'round' spring form cake tin.

2. You can choose to powder the biscuits in a food processor or grinder or use a parchment sheet to place hand-broken biscuits and roll over with a rolling pin until powdered ensuring no lumps. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Add butter bit by bit and slowly bring together forming a firm crumb. Tip crumbs into prepared tin and smooth over with the back of a spoon to achieve a thin even layer. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.

Base of the cheese cake

For the Ricotta Cheesecake Mix:

3. Reduce oven to 90°C (lowest Gas Mark). Place all ingredients into the bowl of a food processor or blender and process until smooth. Pass though a fine sieve to ensure there are no lumps.

Into the blender

4. Pour mix over biscuit base, tap tin firmly on the bench to release air bubbles and bake for 25-30 minutes. Test touch lightly, it will appear still very soft, leave to set in the fridge for 6-8 hours or overnight before serving. Make sure the fridge is normal temperature and not high cool.

Passing through the sieve

For the Plum sorbet:

5. Place water, sugar and chopped plums into a saucepan over a medium-high heat and cook until plums are tender. Allow to cool slightly. Pour into the bowl of a food processor or blender and puree until smooth.

Cooked Plums

6. Chill over an ice water bath(a must). Pour into a pre-chilled ice-cream machine or blender and churn according to manufacturers instructions or until blended well.

For the Fruit salad:

7. To serve, spread a little crème fraiche or light sour cream down the centre of the plate. This will serve as a base to place the fruits around the cheese cake. Place a slice of the cheesecake in the centre and cover the crème fraiche with the fruit salad.

Happy Birthday Hun!

Although the chef was not happy, she was glad to have had two loved ones enjoy this treat to the max!
Thanks George C. for sharing this lovely, delightful cake recipe.

This is a make to share with the family, friends and loved ones as it is quite rich. Enjoy! Share the joy of this light and creamy Goodness with your loved ones!