Roo Recipe: Rhubarb Cheesecake with Chocolate Crumb Crust

One of my greatest pleasures in life is to host a dinner party. I love to entertain and always researching, reading and creating menus for them.

Considering I am not a big sweet eater, lately I have found myself focusing on desserts. Not sure why, but I have been enjoying making them and presenting them all pretty on a plate.

I haven't posted many recipes lately and I need to change that so I'm starting off with this weekends dessert offering. 

 

Rhubarb cheesecake with a Chocolate Crumb and Honeycomb Shard
You will need a pie tin approx 25mm deep and 350mm long with a removable base.

Ingredients
cheese cake
2 packets of Arnotts Chocolate Ripple biscuits
80g butter, melted
375g cream cheese
125ml thickened cream
70g caster sugar
Rind of 1 lemon, grated finely
1tbs gelatine powder
60ml boiling water
stewed rhubarb
1 bunch of rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 2-3cm chunks
160g sugar (or less if you don't want it super sweet)
2 tbls water
1 tbls lemon juice
honeycomb

335g white sugar
125m honey*
80ml water
2 tbls golden syrup
2 tsps bicarb of soda
 
*my honey was a little to thick and gluggy so I made an executive decision to place it in the microwave for a few seconds to 'melt' it.  Note to self - do not leave the cap on the bottle.  The bottle exploded honey all over the insides of my microwave!  wont' be doing that again!

Method

Make stewed rhubarb

Place all ingredients into a saucepan on low heat and cover. Gently simmer for 10-12 minutes until rhubarb is tender and syrupy.

Remove from heat and cool. Refrigerate until needed.

Make crumb crust
In a blender blitz chocolate biscuits to a crumb. Melt butter and pour over crumbs. Mix through until crumb is ‘wet’.

Press crumb into the base and around the sides of the pie tie (approx .5cm thick). Place in the fridge until needed or 15 minutes in the freezer.

Make honeycomb

Line a baking tray with baking paper and lightly oil.

Place sugar, honey, water and golden syrup over low heat in a large saucepan. Stir occasionally and wipe brush down side of the pan with a pastry brush dipped in water to remove sugar crystals. 

After 5-7 minutes or until sugar dissolves increase heat to high and bring to boil.  DO NOT STIR.

When syrup reaches cracking stage (approx 154oc) and is a nice caramel colour remove from heat and let bubbles rest.

Add bicarb of soda and stir with a wooden spoon.  Warning: the mixture will bubble and foam up rapidly.

Quickly pour onto baking paper and let cool completely before breaking into shards.  Can be stored in a airtight container.

This is how much it could puff up.

honeycomb puffs up

 

Make cheesecake filling
Beat cream cheese, cream, sugar and lemon rind together until combined.

Sprinkle gelatine over boiling water and whisk to dissolve. Pour into cheesecake mixture. Beat until smooth.

Fold through 3-4 tablespoons of stewed rhubarb (don’t over mix you want it to ripple).

Pour mixture into tart tin and smooth the top. Drizzle another 2 tablespoons of stewed rhubarb on top of cheesecake.

Cover with clingwrap and place in refrigerator or at least 4 hours to set.
To serve, take out of tart tin and slice. Place mint leaves and crumbed toffee pieces on top (if desired)

served with a sticky wine for a complete dessert ending!

 

 

I had some cheesecake filling and crumb left over so also made a small ramekin size cheesecake for one for the following day.

praline pecan cheesecake

 

I chopped up some pecans and made a simple toffee using sugar and water and poured over them.  I spread them out on a sheet of baking paper until cooled. I crushed the toffeed pecans and sprinkled on top of cheesecake to make a praline cheesecake.  I served this with stewed rhubarb as a treat the following day (not that I needed anymore sweet treats)!

 

***this recipe definitely needs some tweaking.  I may not use as much gelatine powder next time and add some more lemon rind and perhaps a bit of lemon juice to the cheesecake mixture for more tangyness.  It's a work in progress in Roo's Kitchen - gotta start somewhere right!