Valentine?! Not in this house! - Chocolate Cheesecake & Gin Tart
Are you a romantic?
Do you believe that February 14th is the only day of the year when we should get all gooey towards that special person in our life?
You know the stuff I’m thinking of, giant fluffy teddy bears, large heart shaped boxes of chocolates and those enormous velvet cards with cheesy poems.
Do they still make those?
That all adds up to a lot of cash in someone else’s pocket, but for me the most important thing is that none of it is real.
Not to say I’m not romantic, I can eat chocolates with the best of them.
I just hate the fact that there’s this expectation that once a year, no matter what else is happening in a relationship, everything gets postponed, put on hold and sales of chocolates and soft toys probably tied with big red bows, shoot through the roof.
Hey, don’t get me wrong, I’m a big supporter of the chocolate industry, it’s just that the lovely Mr G and myself don’t “celebrate” valentine’s day with these false offerings to the love gods, and that seems to really get to some people.
When the questions inevitably come up, “What did you and the lovely Mr G do/give/receive for valentines?”, and we tell them that we don’t, there’s always a nano-second where a look comes across their face, before they readjust the masks and pretend that it’s not a big deal for them either.
Or the look that implies we’re somehow lacking in the romantic gene, or even worse, that they should be feeling sorry for us because, everyone wants an enormous velvet card, right?
I don’t, never have and I’m hoping I never will.
The lovely Mr G and I don’t “do” valentines because we do other things instead.
We look for a place to stay for a long weekend after the red event has been and gone. Somewhere with places to walk hand in hand, a soft couch to snuggle up next to each other at night or for a cosy day inside reading a good book.
If we’re lucky there won’t be a red rose in site, unless it’s on the table at the fabulous restaurant we go to eat.
Of course there will be chocolate, because there’s no way to sit curled up with a good book without something to nibble on.
This recipe is full of chocolate with just the right amount of romance to make your valentine feel special and you can have as many red roses and you want.
I developed this recipe for The Ribble Valley Gin Company to kick off their new recipe pages on their website (hope they had a chance to get it up and running during the lockdown?), so of course it includes Ribble Valley Gin, but if you’ve not got yourself any as yet (and I’ll leave the link here) you can substitute with your favourite gin.
As for the crystallised rose petals, make them or not it’s up to you. They do add something special to the dish, but if you’re in a hurry to get your chocolate on, just make the rest and leave the flowers for the dining table..
Let me know if you have a go making the edible petal and
Enjoy Your Sweet Life
Chocolate Cheesecake & Garden Party Gin Tart
Pretty & delicious
What You Need
Pastry
350gm plain flour
100g castor Sugar
250gm Salted butter
Icing sugar for rolling out
Butter and flour to prepare tin – See Tip Box
Garden Gin Layer
3 tbsp Double Cream
3 Tbsp Garden Party Gin
250g Icing sugar
Cheesecake Layer
200g Dark Chocolate
75ml Double Cream
150g Full-fat cream cheese
Ganache Topping
200g Milk Chocolate
100ml Double Cream
50g Butter – room temperature
Don’t waste those crumbs
To Serve
Crystallised Rose Petals – Optional- See tip Box
Pinch of Maldon Sea Salt – Optional
How It’s Done
Pastry
Heat the oven to 180c
Place the flour and sugar into a food processor.
Cut the butter into small pieces, and feed them slowly into the top of the food processor.
Let the processor run until the pastry starts to come together into a ball, you may need a little water– See Tip Box
Bring the pastry together with your hands, wrap pastry in cling film and place in the fridge for about 10 minutes.
Prepare the loose bottomed tin – See Tip Box
Once the pastry has rested, dust the work surface with icing sugar, roll out and line an 8-inch loose bottomed tin with the sweet pastry or do what I did– See Tip Box
Place a layer of foil on top of the pastry and, fill with baking beans or uncooked rice and bake for 10 minutes.
Remove the beans and the foil, and bake for another 5 minutes until the pastry is very pale gold and crisp. – See Tip Box
Leave the cooked pastry to cool completely before using.
If you don’t have baking beans, use uncooked rice or sugar.
Gin Layer
Put all the ingredients into a mixing bowl and use a fork to mix everything together well, until you have a paste like consistency.
Pour the mixture into the cooled pastry case, and spread it out evenly across the pastry base.
Chill until you’ve made the cheesecake layer.
Girts layer is the gin layer
Cheesecake Layer
Break all the chocolate into pieces and place the pieces into a large heatproof bowl.
Add the cream cheese and the cream to a medium pan, mix and heat the cheese and cream together until piping hot (not boiling) – Do not walk away- See Tip Box
Once heated, quickly pour the piping hot mixture over the chocolate pieces and leave to soak for one minute or two.
After a minute, stir the mixture until you have a completely smooth cheese, chocolate and cream mixture.
Pour the cheesecake mixture over the gin layer and then return it to the fridge to cool and set.
Chocolaty cheesecake layer
Ganache Layer
Put all of the ganache ingredients in to a heatproof microwavable bowl.
Place in the microwave and heat for 30 seconds.
Mix well and repeat the 30 second bursts mixing in between until the everything is completely incorporated, smooth and silky.
Let the ganache cool for 10 minutes and then pour it over the cheesecake layer and smooth it out evenly.
Return to the fridge and chill for at least 1 hour.
Just before you want to serve the tart, remove it from the tart tin, place it onto the serving plate of your choice.
Decorate with the crystallised rose petals and a pinch of salt if using
Clean and ready for egg white and sugar
Crystallised Rose Petals
Making yourself? This is how you do it.
Carefully remove fresh organic rose petals from the bud and lay them out onto non-stick baking parchment.
Use a fork to lightly whisk one egg white in a small bowl.
Very carefully paint each rose petal with the beaten egg white so they are fully coated each side.
Once covered in the beaten egg white, gently dust them, both sides, with spoonful’s of the castor sugar.
Very gently, shake off any excess sugar, then lay each of the petals on to the parchment paper.
Allow to dry overnight – they will keep for up to one month, but the colour will fade after a week or two.
Make one large or individual
Tip Box
Pastry – a) Be patient when making the pastry. It may take a few minutes to come together into a ball.
b) When placing the pastry into the loose bottomed tin, don’t press it down too hard, use a gentle touch.
c) I used one oblong loose bottom tin along with three smaller round loose bottomed tins, but if you have just one lose bottomed tine, round, square or oblong, then use what you have. It’s all about fun cooking.
d) When lining the tin with the pastry, don panic if it breaks up a little. Push it together, when cooked, it will re-seal.
e) Use icing sugar to roll out this pastry. It stops the pastry drying out too much and becoming too hard to the bite when cooked.
Oven – All ovens are different so adjust cooking time accordingly.
Tin Preparation – Grease the inside of the loose bottomed tin with margarine or butter. Dust the inside with flour, making sure to completely cover.
Heating the cream cheese and the cream – When heating the double cream and cream cheese together, make sure that it doesn’t boil. Keep a close eye on it stirring constantly. Do not walk away from it , it will burn
Ganache – Don’t over heat the chocolate and cream mixture. If you don’t keep your eye on the mixture, it will burn and go thick and lumpy.
Crystallised rose petals look great on large or individual tarts.
