Cheese cake with liquorice and lemon a la Isabella

Cheese cake with liquorice and lemon - ready, steady - eat

According to the Danish magazine Isabellas cheese cakes should be the new "hot" cake after cup cakes and pop cakes. What attracted me looking into the various cheese cake recipes were the "heavy" use of full-fat dairy products like cream cheese, Greek yogurt with 10% fat, dairy whipping cream and finally a little amount of butter. And when I saw, that one of the recipe on cheese cake was containing liquorice and lemon, I simply NEEDED to try this very specific recipe.

I found, that the cake amount is giving more than actually mentioned in the originally recipe, so instead of 5 mini cheese cakes, I got 6 mini cheese cake + 1 glass of the cake filling. And to refer to this size of 7 cm form as mini cheese cake is something of exaggeration, these cakes are huge !!!

With all the full-fat cream cheese, full-fat yogurt and dairy whipping cream, the calorie content is enormous, so you really full after eating one of these cakes.

The taste combination with lemon zest and liquorice is just wonderful.

Cheese cake with liquorice and lemon a la Isabella: - 6 BIG mini cheese cakes

Biscuit layer in the cake formion

• 150 g Digestive biscuits
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 60 g butter - melted
• 2 egg yolks (pasteurised = 1 cup egg yolk)
• 100 g sugar
• 200 g full-fat cream cheese
• ½ vanilla pod - the corns
• 200 g full-fat (10%) Greek yogurt
• 5 leaves of gelatine (Husblas in Danish)
• 3 egg whites (pasteurised = 2 cups of egg white)
• 250 g dairy whipping cream, 38% fat
• 2 teaspoon raw liquorice powder
• 1 lemon (organic) - the zest
• 1 teaspoon raw liquorice powder - for decoration 

1. Start by deciding, if you want to make one BIG cheese cake (spring form tin of 20 cm) or 6 smaller set moulds of 7 cm.
2. Also decide to use plastic pocket, which you have cut into a strap, as this will make it so much easier to get the cheese cake of the forms. This is NOT mentioned at all in the recipe, but I will do this next time, when I make cheese cake.
3. Crash the Digestive biscuits, first by hands and followed by using a blender, these biscuits should be turned into a fine powder.
4. Add the sugar and the melted butter into the biscuit flour, and stir well.
5. Place the set mould on a tray covered with baking paper.
6. Press the biscuit-butter mass into a firm bottom layer in the used form(s), I used a mortar stick for this part of the process. 
7. Place the forms with this bottom biscuit layer cold in the refrigerator.
8. Whip the egg yolks together with sugar, until the colour turns white.
9. Add the cream cheese and whip into a homogeneous mass. 
10. Add the vanilla corns, lemon zest and raw liquorice powder and Greek yogurt.
11. Place the gelatine leaves in cold water for 5 minutes. 
12. Remove the gelatine leaves from the water, squeeze them slightly for water.
13. Melt the gelatine leave in a water bath over boiling water. 
14. Cool down the melted gelatine.



Cheese cake mass ready for filling into the form






Cheese cakes ready for gelling








15. Start to whip cream cheese-yogurt mass, pouring in the gelatine liquid and whip very, very well, so you avoid the creation of gelatine strings in the final dessert. Do not be afraid of whipping to much, as the gelatine will gel the cheese cake mass.
16. Whip the egg white completely stiff - mix the whipped egg white gently into the cheese-yogurt mass.
17. Whip the dairy whipping cream and again mix the cream gently into the cheese-yogurt mass.
18. Pour the cheese-yogurt mass into the forms on top of the biscuit layer. 
19. Place some cling film on top of the cake mass to avoid formation of thick layer.
20. Place the forms again in the refrigerator for minimum 4 hours, before the cakes are served. 
21. After 4 hours take the cheese cake out of the refrigerator, remove the cling film, get the cake out of the forms (tricky part), sprinkle the surface with raw liquorice powder 
22. Enjoy this luxury indulgent cheese cake with many, many calories !!!!

A little extra cake mass as left over