A Finnish New Year Treat
On my travels I visited Finland over a Christmas/New Year period and tried something new, which I have brought to you. After the richness of Christmas and New Year feasts I wanted something not filling and QUITE different. This speciality dish fits the bill.
My choice is for lemon cheesecake but with the different addition of liquorice…yes liquorice. This combination of lemon and really salty liquorice is now an annual favourite of mine, so let me explain how it is created.
Lemon and Liquorice Cheesecake
For the base
300 g almond paste
2 eggs
3 tbsp potato flour
Batter
600 g Philadelphia cheese
150 g granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla powder (or 2 teaspoons vanilla sugar)
3 large eggs
2 tablespoons potato flour
1/2-3/4 dl lemon curd
zest of 1/2 lemon
40 grams of liquorice (you can use children’s sweets)
Preheat the oven to 175 degrees. Line a springform pan on the inside with parchment paper and on the outside with aluminium foil.
Grate the almond paste and mix it with eggs and potato flour until smooth. Now grate your liquorice ~ 40 grams should be fine and not too strong. Use more at your discretion, add to the batter. Pour the batter into the tin and smooth it so that it is smooth. Bake the base in the lower part of the oven for about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let it cool completely before adding the cheesecake batter itself.
Reduce the heat to 150 degrees.
Gently whisk together the Philadelphia cheese with vanilla powder and powdered sugar in a bowl until smooth. Add one egg at a time and whisk well as you add them.
Add potato flour and lemon curd. Stir everything together until is smooth.
Pour the batter into the tin and shake it so that the batter is evenly distributed. Gently tap it on the worktop a few times to allow any air to escape.
Place the tin in a slightly larger tin and fill the outer tin with water so that it stands a few centimetres up on the cheesecake tin.
Bake the cake in the lower part of the oven for about 40-50 minutes. Check the cake towards the end of the baking time so that the top side does not appear to start to darken. If it tends to get darker, cover with a baking sheet.
Take out the cake while it is still loose (wobbly, like jelly) in the middle. Remove the tin from the water bath and let the cake cool. Then, place it in the fridge covered with plastic wrap to set at least 12 hours before serving.
Serve with a scoop of vanilla cream and a chilled dry white wine, or champagne to be truly decadent.
Enjoy ~ Feliz Navidad!
Rodriguez