Chocolate malteaser cheesecake
The algebra of nostalgia!
Some folks balk at baking, claiming that they were
never good at chemistry.
But when it comes to the sum of things becoming
much greater than their whole...well that seems more
like algebra to me!
Take my mum's chocolate cheescake
recipe (MC2)
Add a nostalgic hankering for Malteasers -the Aussie
and Brit Malted Milk Ball (MMB)...
And we have an equation which looks something like
this: MC2 x MMB = Bloody Tasty!
The crust: take 8oz / 225g of chocolate graham
crackers (any plain chocolate biscuit will do) and
crumble them into the bowl of a food processor. Add
4oz of malted milk balls and pulse to break them down
to a coarse crumb. Pour 4oz / 125g melted butter
down the tube and pulse until the butter is combined
into the crumbs.
Pour this mix into a 9 inch spring form pan and use a
flat bottomed glass to press the crumbs down from
the center of the base out to the sides. Then roll the
glass around the sides of the pan to spread the
crumbs halfway up. Put the pan into the fridge whilst
you get the cheesecake filling made!
The cream cheese part:
clean your food processor and put 8oz / 225g of
room-temperature cream cheese into it. Add 2 egg
yolks, 2 tablespoons superfine / castor sugar and 1
tablespoon of cocoa. Pulse to combine.
Melt 8oz semi-sweet chocolate in a bowl (I melt it in
20 second bursts in the microwave), pour 2/3 of the
chocolate into the food processor and combine with
the cream cheese batter.
In mixing bowl #1: in a spotless, dry bowl, add 2 egg
whites and using spotless, dry electric beaters, beat
at high speed until the egg whites swell and turn
foamy. Beat until soft peaks form when the beaters
are lifted. Start adding 2 tablespoons of superfine /
castor sugar and keep beating. The egg whites will
turn white and glossy and have firm peaks when the
beaters are lifted.
In mixing bowl # 2: pour 1 cup of whipping cream and
beat with beaters until the cream is whipped.
Putting it all together: fold the chocolate cream
cheese mix into the egg whites and gently stir from
the bottom, in upwards motions, until the egg whites
are combined. Now add this mix to the whipped
cream and fold again. Don't be too rough or you will
knock all of the air out of the mixture. Pour this on
top of the crust in the spring form pan. We're almost
done!
The impressive swirly bit: remember that melted
chocolate sitting in the bowl? Well make sure that it's
still warm and melted and add a good 2 tablespoons
of malted milk powder and about 1/3 cup of cream.
Stir like mad and have a taste: add more malted milk
if you like. Pour this over the top of the cheesecake
and use a knife to go around and around; that's how
you get those swirly bits!
Patience is a virtue: albeit it an over-rated one. But
in this case it has its own rewards. Let the
cheescake set in the fridge (covered with cling film)
for at least 4 hours
Before serving, run a knife around the sides of the
cake pan to loosen the crust and unlatch the
spring form.
There's something about this cheesecake, which I'm
sure my mum got from an old Women's Weekly. We
would beg her to make it...and after exhausting every
mixing bowl in my kitchen to assemble it, I know why
she resisted!...I have to admit that I added the
malteasers because I woke up in the throes of jet
lag, craving a slice of childhood and indulging in one
of a suitcase full of malteasers that I'd smuggled with
me on my last return from Australia.
Sure, I can buy malted milk balls here, but there is
something about munching on the candy that I grew
up with; my taste buds were out doing wheelies
down memory lane on that bike I had when I was 8
years old. I might also add that I doubled the
chocolate. In for a penny, in for a pound, huh? That's
also
how I decided to slather it all in the swirly choc-malt
ganache. Mum would just say that I'm showing off,
but she'd probably go back for a second helping too!
