Triple Chocolate Cheesecake

So I am fairly certain that anything with three types of chocolate in it will always taste delicious, regardless of what it is. Add to that the fact that the chocolate will make up a beautiful rich cheesecake and you’ve got yourself a winner! Last weekend I decided to cook a three course lunch for my mum for mothers day and knowing that she loves all things chocolate and cheesecake I knew what the dessert had to be. But the question remained….how to do it?? 

I often steer away from making no bake cheesecakes after a previous experience which didn’t end up to be very successful. During that attempt, the recipe asked me to use gelatine powder to set the cake (again a chocolate cheesecake). Now either I was a bit heavy handed with the gelatine or the recipe itself was a little (or a lot) off but what I ended up with was a very dense, very firm cake that was a huge let down in all areas! After that time I thought that I would just steer clear of the gelatine set type cakes and stick to the baked cheesecake. 

Thankfully though, my approach changed completely after watching an episode of MKR (yep another recipe from this show! I’m sorry but I really love it!) where two contestants (QLD’s Paul and Blair) created what looked like a beautiful triple chocolate cheesecake. Aside from the fact that the recipe seemed very simple, the two dad’s are self confessed “non-dessert” people, so I thought that my chances of success would be slightly higher (it was one of those, “if they can do it so can I moments”). So off I went on a path of determination!

And luckily, I was NOT disappointed! Wow! what a recipe! The base is a lovely crumbly mixture that combines the flavours of chocolate, walnuts, dates and honey to make something really really special. The cheesecake mixture itself is beautiful, light, and creamy, with pockets of sour raspberries to cut through the rich flavours. Honestly, this would have to be the lightest, most delicious cheesecake I have ever ever eaten! If thats not proof enough, my family have continued to eat it every day this week and their still not sick of it! I promise you will love this one. It’s easy, tasty and so more-ish! The only issue that I had was that I think I used a slightly smaller cake tin then the recipe required, which meant I had a little leftover of the milk chocolate layer. I put this into another tin though to make a mini cheesecake, which my sister and boyfriend happily devoured as “chef-specials”!

So here it is, the recipe for Triple Chocolate Cheesecake (original found here):

Ingredients

1. Melted butter, to grease
2. 300g plain chocolate biscuits
3. 180g (1½ cups) walnuts, finely chopped, toasted
4. 10 dates, pitted (Soak in boiling water to soften for about 15mins)
5. 100g coconut oil
6. 2 tbs honey

Filling:

1. 750g cream cheese, softened
2. 100g caster sugar
3. 300ml thickened cream
4. 200g white chocolate, chopped
5. 200g milk chocolate, chopped
6. 200g dark chocolate, chopped
7. 3 tsp powdered gelatine
8. 125g fresh raspberries, plus extra, to serve (I used frozen)

Method:

1. Grease a 23cm cake pan with removable base with melted butter. Process biscuits and nuts in a food processor until the mixture resembles crumbs. Add dates, coconut oil and honey and process to combine. Press mixture over base and sides of prepared pan and refrigerate until needed.
 

2. To make the filling, using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar (on medium speed) until smooth and combined. Add cream and beat until smooth. Set aside.

3. Fill a small saucepan one-third full with water and bring to a gentle simmer. Place the white, milk and dark chocolate in separate small heatproof bowls. Working with one bowl at a time, place over pan and stir until chocolate has melted (don’t let the bowl touch the water). Allow to cool.
4. Place 60ml boiling water in a small heatproof bowl and sprinkle over gelatine. Stir until dissolved. With the motor running, gradually add to cream cheese mixture and beat to combine. Add a third of the cream cheese mixture to each bowl of melted chocolate and stir to combine.

5. Pour dark chocolate layer over chilled cake base. Dot with raspberries, then freeze for 5 minutes. Top with milk chocolate layer and freeze for 5 minutes. Top with white chocolate layer and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight to set.

6. Slice cheesecake and place on serving plates.

I served mine with a raspberry coulis (cooked frozen raspberries with a bit of sugar and lemon juice to make a syrup) which is a lovely accompaniment!

 

Happy Baking and Enjoy!

 

Mediterranean Stuffed Squid with Tomato Salsa

Cooking with seafood is often quite daunting for me, particularly because I’m not overly experienced with it. That being said, my family and I have always loved our Seafood and after a trip to Greece last year I reaffirmed my desire to try my hand at cooking stuffed squid tubes. The only thing I was missing was a great recipe (squid tubes are a tad expensive so I was keen to have a recipe that was tried and tested and that I’d know would be a big hit with my family) and luckily, after watching an episode of My Kitchen Rules I felt inspired. Two of the shows contestants cooked a beautiful Mediterranean style stuffed squid, serving it on a rich tomato salsa and a crisp salad. I knew this would be a great dish to cook for lunch for my mum this past weekend (here in Aus it was Mothers Day!). I did have a few variations on the original recipe which can be found here, so here is my take on the girls recipe! Originally I wasn’t going to make the salsa but in the end i am so glad that i did! It really lifts the dish and looks fantastic for presentation!

Hope you enjoy and happy baking!

What you’ll need:

1. 5 whole baby squid, cleaned
2. 1 tbs olive oil

Squid Stuffing:

1. 120g medium grain rice
2. 6 Green Prawns, peeled
3. 2 tsp olive oil
4. 250g chorizo, chopped
5. 1 onion, finely chopped
6. 30g chopped pine nuts, toasted
7. 30g sultanas
8. ¼ cup finely chopped parsley

Tomato Salsa

1. 3 tomatoes diced into large chunks
2. 2 tsp olive oil
3. 1 small red onion, finely chopped
4. 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
5. 1 red chilli, finely chopped
6. ¼ cup pitted black olives, chopped (I used mixed Olives)

What I did:

To make stuffing:

1. Cook rice in a saucepan of boiling until tender (about 10 mins). Drain and set aside.
2. Heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat and add chorizo and onion. Fry until onion is soft and brown and then add your peeled prawns (cut into smaller chunks). Cook until prawn is cooked through before adding your cooked rice, pine nuts, sultanas and parsley.

3. Leave to cool completely.

4. Once cool, spoon mixture into squid tubes, firmly compacting it and then seal the end with a toothpick.

For Salsa:

1. Preheat your oven to 200C. Place your diced tomatoes onto a tray, drizzle with a little oil and roast until tender and slightly collapsing.

2. Heat the oil in a frying pan and cook your onion, garlic and chilli until soft. Stir in tomatoes and olives. Season. I also added a little parsley and lemon juice for flavour but thats up to your tastes.

Cooking the Squid:
1. Rub squid all over with oil and season. Meanwhile heat your pan to a very high heat. Add the squid and cook for about 5 minutes, turning so that all sides are cooked through (you can tell that its cooked when it turns from translucent to a white colour). Ensure that you don’t overcook the squid. I found it hard to get the ends to cook as they couldn’t touch the pan due to the toothpicks. To overcome this, remove the toothpicks right at the end of cooking (by now the rice should be cooked and hold in place) and then tilt the ends so that they touch the pan and cook.
2. When serving, make thick cuts in each squid tube so that you can see stuffing, without cutting all the way through. Lay onto plate on top of the salsa

Enjoy!!