Super-speedy Baileys cheesecake

I made this cheesecake the other day on a sort of trial run, but as it worked well I thought I'd write a quick post on it. There's nothing like a proper baked cheesecake, but if you fancy a speedier alternative then this could be it.
The base is made from pecan nuts and chocolate finger biscuits (a variation on something I saw the Hairy Bikers do on the telly recently- thanks Si and Dave), and the topping is simply some mascarpone cheese mixed with Baileys. A nice person bought me some hazelnut flavoured Baileys for Christmas, and it pretty much already tastes like a pudding in a glass so was ideal for using in this cheesecake. But you could of course use regular Baileys or another cream liqueur.

Recipe (enough for 4 individual servings):

40g unsalted or lightly salted butter, melted
12 chocolate fingers
50g pecan nuts, chopped quite finely
250g mascarpone cheese
6-10 tblsp hazelnut flavour Baileys cream liqueur
A very small amount of chocolate for grating on top (optional)

Crush the chocolate fingers (I put them in a freezer bag and bash them with a rolling pin), until they are in large crumbs. Mix with the chopped nuts and melted butter, and divide equally between four small ramekins. I lined a couple with clingfilm, so I could lift the set cheesecakes out, and used some pots suitable for eating straight out of for the other two. You may well have more matching cookware than me though. Push the base mixture firmly into the bottom of the ramekins, and smooth down with the back of a spoon. Next make up the topping by combining the Baileys with the mascarpone. Have a little taste, so that you achieve your favoured level of booziness. I think there's enough sweetness in the Baileys on its own, but do add a little icing sugar too if you want. Spoon the topping over the base and chill in the fridge for a few hours if you want it properly set, but even 30minutes should be enough if you really can't wait. Grate a little chocolate over the top when you're ready to eat them.

This isn't exactly a classic cheesecake, and the top is more of a mousse-like texture. But I really liked the chocolate biscuit and nutty base with the creamy top layer. And it was pretty much a doddle to put together.

Crisptastic days

Way back in the day when I first started this blog, I had sort of intended to write about ready-made food products. And that was indeed what my first few posts were on. The only problem with this occurred when I realised that I don't actually buy that much ready-made stuff. And I'm not sure anyone would be that interested in my musings on different brands of fishfingers. However, there is one food stuff which I am very keen on and always buy ready-made. And that is one of the finest forms of the fried potato, the crisp.

I spotted these new offerings from Burts just before Christmas. The pesto flavour was marked as 'seasonal', which I thought was a bit puzzling until I found out that they had actually been released over the summer. Although, I'm still not exactly sure how pesto is seasonal. Anyway, I am already an acknowledged Burts fan. They seem like a nice independent brand, and their hand-cooked crisps are pretty much always super-crispy and grease-free. They also tend not to over-season their flavoured crisps, and this applied to the pesto variety too. There was a subtle herby taste, with a gentle cheese flavour in the background. All in all, nothing too pungent and a seasoning that still allowed the flavour of the fried potato to come through. The crisps were also almost the size of my head, but I may just have struck lucky with my bag. So I really liked these, and would be quite pleased if Burts made pesto a permanent flavour in their range.

And on the subject of crisp flavours- I was recently offered the chance to try some mystery flavours from crisp behemoth Walkers. I do like Walkers crisps, but pretty much always go for the ready salted option. As you can see from the pic above, these new flavours were indeed very mysterious. It turns out that this wasn't just for my benefit, and that Walkers are actually running a competition for people to guess what these flavours are.
Here are my attempts:

Flavour A- mildly cheesey with a bit of herb. I think this is something like cream cheese and chive. Definitely my favourite of the three, and the one I'd consider buying in preference to cheese and onion.
Flavour B- something vaguely bacon-y and maybe a little spicy. Maybe trying to be chorizo or salami.
Flavour C-something with tomato and peppers. Maybe a salsa type flavour. My least favourite.

So I think my favourite crisp is still the plain salted type, but there are a couple of flavour options here that I'd happily scoff.

Burts Pesto Flavour Crisps
I rate them 8/10
Around £1.70 for a 150g bag, from lots of shops (though I only saw this flavour in Waitrose)

Walkers Mystery Flavour Crisps
I rate them all perfectly acceptable but the cream cheese-type one is my fave
Around £0.50 for a 35g bag, but I was kindly sent my selection for free and gratis by the nice Walkers crisps tweeting bod.

Happy Noo Year!

I've been eating quite a lot of things over the past few weeks, so the above is a little summary. Here's to a 2012 filled with more food, fun, drink, excitement, peace on earth, and naps.

Mini Bakewell Tart cakes

I first saw this recipe for Bakewell Tart-inspired fairy cakes earlier this summer, on Jules' excellent Butcher, Baker blog. I finally got round to making them last weekend, adapting them slightly. Instead of the cherry Bakewell iced topping, I went a little more traditional and just sprinkled on some flaked almonds. You'll need around a heaped tablespoons-worth if you're doing this, and to avoid scorching push them down slightly into the surface of the cake batter before you put them in the oven. But apart from this, I followed Jules' recipe exactly.
And most excellent it was too. A lovely almond sponge, with a hidden bit of jam in the middle, and a little crunch on top.
I'm not a massive fan of traditional Christmas dessert fare, but I think these little cakes would make a great light pudding with some warm custard. Alternatively, they are also fab with a cup of tea.

Ambala Indian Sweet Centre

In many ways I'm not very good at being a Bengali. I don't merrily chomp through fish heads, and there is no Rabindra Sangeet on my ipod. However there is one way in which I am very Bengali, and that is my love of mishti, Indian sweets or mithai.

As a child I baulked at my mum's thin, yellow macher jhol fish curry and fried bitter gourd uchay bhaja, but was happy to scoff down homemade syrupy sweet gulab jam or roshogolla. It's actually quite unusual for Bengalis to make many sweets at home, as back in Calcutta pretty much every neighbourhood has its own local sweet shop for all your mishti needs. Unfortunately an equivalent was very much lacking in the Cambridge of the 70's and 80's, so I was dependent on my mum's skills in this area and the occasional trip to the Ambala Sweet Centre in London for my fix. There are many branches of Ambala across London now, but the original shop is on Drummond Street. This is dangerously close to King's Cross Station, and I have to restrain myself from visiting on every single trip to London. Amabala is not a Bengali shop, but I'm not parochial in my mishti enjoyment, so anywhere selling jelebis, burfis and ladoos is fine by me.

Here's what I picked up on my most recent trip:

Ladoos! Probably my favourite Indian sweet, ladoos are made from fried gram flour soaked in syrup. The chickpea at its finest in my opinion.

Burfi! In this case chocolate and pistachio. The chocolate ones are a bit of a Western innovation, which involves pouring a thin layer of chocolate over a plain burfi. My sort of fusion cooking.

Indian sweets do have a reputation for being almost painfully sweet, and indeed some are. But there also some beautiful flavours of cardamom, cashew and pistachio, the richness of milk and cream, and textures that range from crumbly or softly spongy, to crispy. So as a change from the mince pies and chocolate yule logs that I might be consuming in the forthcoming festive season, I may well have a ladoo too. And with Christmas in mind, a selection of Indian sweets would make a top gift (nb they freeze very well, so you don't actually have to eat them all immediately).

Ambala also sell a range of savoury food, (I've written about their samosas before). And if you can't get to one of their many shops you can also order online (though not the samosas sadly).

Cambridge Cake Crawl

It would probably be an understatement to say that I have been known to enjoy a slice or two of cake in my time. So when The Secluded Tea Party supremo Miss Sue Flay announced that she was organising a cake crawl in Cambridge, I grabbed a friend and signed up. The plan was to visit five venues for an assortment of cakes over the afternoon, and finish with some dessert-based cocktails.

We kicked off in the Library Room at the Hotel du Vin with an impressive tea selection, some perfect red velvet cupcakes, and slices of fruit cake. As if this wasn't enough, we were also provided with a chocolate brownie each to take away (which on later consumption turned out to be fantastic). It was at this early stage that Miss Flay's provision of bags to pack up extra cake looked like a really good idea.

A brief walk later and we arrived at the recently re-opened Fitzbillies for one of their famed Chelsea buns (and more tea).

Company motto?

It was absolutely packed on a Saturday afternoon, so I really appreciated being whisked through to our special chef's table in the kitchen.

Chelsea bun close-up. Sticky.

An abundance of buns (not all for us).

More tea and a Chelsea bun later, it was off to Benet's for a palate cleanser a.k.a. an ice cream. There was quite a big selection, and apparently they are all made on site too.



My large scoop of wild cherry ice cream was lovely, and because it wasn't too sweet it was actually quite refreshing. And then it was onwards to the market, to the Caribbean food stall.

A very enthusiastic cake seller.

After some al fresco chatting and a piece of carrot cake later, we headed off towards Bill's Cafe.

Here as a minor deviation from cake, we had scones with jam and cream (and tea).

The scones were nice and light, and despite me repeatedly saying that I was full I still managed to consume a significant amount of the generous portion. And so as the sun set we staggered away to our final venue, the private members 12a Club.

Cocktail illuminated by candlelight.

Our desserts here were in liquid form, which I was quite glad about as I was near my cake saturation point. However I had no problem with sipping on my non-alcoholic tiramisu cocktail, which had the perfect balance of chocolate and coffee flavours without being sugary.

And so ended a very filling afternoon, which was also a lot of fun. I really enjoyed visiting some new tea and cake destinations such as Hotel du Vin. I will certainly be back there if only for that chocolate brownie. And maybe a cupcake. Umm, and some tea. It was also fantastic to smugly stroll past the queues to our own table, as well as chat to some cake makers and other enthusiasts. And you know you've had a good day when you waddle home with a bag of cake, feeling a little more rounded than you were before, and in need of a lie down.

Props to Miss Flay for organising it all too.

Shahi-style prawn and langoustine curry

I wasn't really sure what to call this Indian dish. I think of shahi-style food as originating from the Mughal empire in India, usually made with ground nuts or cream (or both), and therefore very indulgent. It's not the type of food my parents would normally cook, and as Bengalis they'd probably just describe it as North Indian. Other UK residents may think of it as a korma. But etymology aside, this is great Indian dish for a autumn night. It is gently spiced, but rich and full of flavour. I made it with prawns and langoustines, but you could easily make a vegetarian version instead (or indeed a chicken one).

Recipe (enough for 4):

250g shell-on cooked langoustine tails
200g large cooked prawns
Fat thumb-sized piece of ginger, ground to a paste
3 fat cloves of garlic, ground to a paste
1 large dried bay leaf
2 little finger-sized pieces of cinnamon
3 cardamon pods, split
1 whole green chilli, pricked a few times with the tip of a knife
2 level tsp ground coriander
1 level tsp ground cumin
1 level tsp garam masala
0.5 tsp turmeric
Salt and pepper for seasoning
Around 3 tblsp sunflower oil
Around 4 tblsp ground almonds
Around 200ml double cream

Put the oil into your pan, and heat gently (make sure you have enough oil to cover the base of the pan). When it's warm but definitely not smoking hot add in the whole spices- the bay leaf, cinnamon and cardamon pods. Give them a good stir, and after a minute add the ginger, garlic and chilli. Everything should be sizzling but not sticking, so turn down the heat if you need to. After another couple of minutes put in all the ground spices, and stir well. You should be smelling some nice aromas by this point. Next, lower the heat and then add the ground almonds and cook for a few minutes until they are lightly toasted. Put in the cooked seafood at this point, mix everything well and then pour in the cream. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and gently simmer for a few minutes until the prawns and langoustines are heated through.

So what you should end up with is a rich nutty gravy, that is flavoured with both whole and ground spices. The whole chilli provides flavour rather than heat, but this dish is as a far from bland as you can get. Using langoustines in this dish made a nice change from prawns (props to the Tesco freezer cabinet), and I thought they were much more flavourful too. I served this with some rice and my go to Indian classic of spinach and paneer with methi. Poppadom optional.