The story so far

I PACKED THIS MYSELF is a project working with migrant workers and local communities in Cornwall, which started in 2006. The aim: to break down prejudice and increase understanding



Tuesday 9 March 2010

Ewa's cheesecake recipe

This has been requested several times since our workshop at Truro Library in February. It is surprising that culinary vocab is so challenging! Folding in! Crumbling! Quite a lot of technical terms about rather subtle techniques. But here it is. It is extremely good.


BLACK AND WHITE CHEESCAKE
by Ewa Cimochowska

Cake:
- 0.9lb/400g of flour
- 6 tablespoons of sugar
- 3 teaspoons of vanilla flavouring
- 0.45 lb/200g  of butter 
-  teaspoon of baking powder
- 1 tablespoon of cocoa
- 2 tablespoons of sour cream 
cheese mixture :
- 2.2 lb/1 kg of Quark soft cheese
- 1.5 cup of sugar
- 4 tablespoons of melted butter
- 5 eggs ( yolks and whites separetly )
- 1 tablespoon of custard powder

Preparing a baking form: Butter the tin. Then dust the entire buttered surface with fine, dry bread crumbs (the kind you can buy at the supermarket or you can make them yourself) by turning the tin on its side and slowly rotating it. Invert the tin and shake out excess crumbs.


Mix cake ingredients together with your hands until well blended . Form into two balls and put into the refrigerator for half an hour. During this time prepare cheese mixture. Mix the egg yolks with sugar. Add cheese, melted butter and custard powder. Beat (on low to to low-medium speed) thoroughly, until completely smooth. Beat egg whites until stiff. Fold into the cheese mixture.   (You can also add a few raisins, if you wish.)


Crumble one of the dark cake balls coarsely into the baking form and spread evenly to create a base for your cake. Pour cheese mixture and crumble another dark ball of cake on the top. You can gently press the top dark cake into the cheese mixture so that they mix a little.


Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4 . Put the cheesecake in the centre of the oven and bake for about an hour. The cheesecake is done when the middle layer is firm.  Let it cool completely on rack. It can be served after two or three hours, but ideally is left until the next day.