Tulips And Mascarpone

I resisted for a long time from using Mascarpone, simply because it is so expensive and I have never used it before. Well, it is a start of a new era. Mascarpone era.

I the pictures here don't say enough I know this recipe will. Because what can be better than Mascarpone cheesecake? Creamy and fluffy, with perfect amounts of real vanilla, orange zest and lemon juice.

 

                                      Nigel Slater's

LEMON AND ORANGE CHEESECAKE

80g butter

250g digestive biscuits

500g mascarpone cheese

200g cream cheese

150g sugar, golden caster

3 large eggs

1 egg yolk

1 orange, zest only

1 lemon, zest and juice

                                        150ml whipping cream

                                   1 vanilla pod

Crush the digestive cookies in a food processor. Add the melted butter. Mix and press to the bottom of a deep 22cm cake pan with a removable bottom. Freeze.

I used my gingerbread cookies for the base. I had some leftover from Xmas and it was a great way of using those up. But digestive cookies will be faster and can be found in every grocery store.

Preheat the oven to 350F. The recipe was 300F- baking for 50 minutes but I found this temperature too low and it baked for about 80min. 

Boil some water in a kettle.

Put the mascarpone, cream cheese, sugar, eggs and extra yolk in a food mixer, or you can use a hand mixer as well. Grate the zest of an orange, add the lemon juice with its zest, vanilla and mix until combined. 

Pour to the pan on top of the cookie base. Wrap the pan in some aluminium foil and place in a bigger baking dish filled with hot water. The water needs to come up half way of the pan.

Bake for 50minutes, let it cool in the oven afterwards and when cool place it in the fridge. It is the best served cold.

You will enjoy it!