by Karen Swan
You know those days when you’re happy pottering around in the kitchen cooking, child happily playing in his room with LEGO, and you think, “Great! This day is working out sweet!”?
I was having one of those days when I started this cake.
Then the phone rang.
My day went downhill rapidly. My son figured he’d given me as much space as he intended (and to be fair, I was on the phone for an hour), my kitchen sink was overflowing with dishes and my oven had been ‘preheating’ for 2 hours!
A tin of marbles I had stashed in my wardrobe saved me from having to resume my usual role of late, swashbuckling around the lounge room like a pirate, and I set my son loose on creating a marble run on the floor.
I got back to my cooking.
This is a much lighter version of a cheesecake and, with the success of the gluten free chocolate pastry (Hurrah!), the end result is a gorgeous, citrus-y, chocolatey bloomin stupendous cake! Had you been in my kitchen you would have heard me squeal with glee when the springform pan released and the pastry shell remained whole! Seriously, is there nothing worse than looking at a perfectly cooked cake or pie and then having it stick and fall apart as soon as you try and remove it from it’s tin? I think not.
I’ve adapted this recipe from our all time favourite author, Tessa Kiros and her gorgeous cookbook “Falling Cloudberries”.
Ingredients:
(makes one 24cm cake)
Pastry
100g butter – softened
1/3 cup caster cugar
1 cup plain flour (I used White Wings Gluten free)
2 T cocoa powder
1/2 tsp xantham gum
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 egg
*if making with regular, non-gluten free flour, omit the baking powder and xantham gum in the recipe)
Filling:
3 eggs
2/3 cup caster sugar
1 tsp orange zest
500g ricotta cheese
250g tub cream cheese
1 T freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 T freshly squeezed orange juice
Method:
Pastry:
Using a food processor, mix the butter and sugar until pale and creamy.
While that’s whizzing around, sift together the flour with the xantham gum & baking powder (if using) and the cocoa powder.
Add the flour mix to the bowl of the food processor and mix/pulse until it’s coated in the butter and begins to clump.
(you may need to scrape the edges of the base to make sure all the butter is incorporated)
Add the egg and pulse until the pastry comes together.
Pour the mix onto a sheet of plastic wrap and form a flat disc.
The pastry is a very soft mix, but don’t worry! It will work!
Pop the pastry in the fridge for an hour. (I actually put mine in the freezer – if you’re not making this with GF flour, the fridge should be fine).
Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees.
Remove the pastry from the fridge and roll out between two pieces of baking paper.
I found I had to dust some more flour over the pastry to firm it up a little.
Once the pastry is rolled out big enough to cover the base and sides of a 24cm springform pan, carefully lift the pastry using a rolling pin, lay over the pan and press into place. (Depending on the pan you use, you might want to line the base with baking paper)
Cover with a sheet of baking paper and fill with uncooked beans or rice and bake for 20 minutes.
Remove paper/beans and return to the oven for a further 5 minutes. Remove and set aside while you make the filling.
Filling:
Using an electric hand or bench mixer, beat the eggs and sugar until lovely and thick and creamy.
Add the orange zest, ricotta and cream cheese and beat well until smooth.
Add the lemon and orange juice and mix to combine.
Pour into the pastry shell and bake for around 45 minutes. (mine seemed to take forever, but I have a really, really dodgy oven)
The filling will start off a little ‘puffy’ then, as it cools, will sink and crack a little into perfection!
Cool for 15 minutes in the tin before releasing the sides.
You can eat this before it totally cools, but I prefer it cold!
