A very fresh and spicy cheesecake with a loads of taste in every little bite. The oranges complements the delicious creamy rhubarb filling with a little extra acidity and freshness and the chili provides a surprising extra dimension to the cake.
Ingredients for rhubarb compote:
1 kg rhubarb stalks
350 g raw cane sugar
fresh chopped chilli to taste
1 tsp vanilla powder (or seeds from 1 pod or 3-4 tsp vanilla sugar)
finely grated zest from 3 – 4 organic oranges
Ingredients for base:
75 g melted butter plus a small amout for greasing the springform pan
150 g coarse grained bisquits of a kind
100 g coarsely chopped walnut kernels
Ingredients for filling:
300 g cream cheese (i.e. Philadelphia)
2 dl cream 38%
2 dl creme fraiche 18%
2 egg yolks
2 egg whites
100 g raw cane sugar
fresh chopped chilli to taste
1 tsp vanilla powder (or seeds from 1 pod or 3-4 tsp vanilla sugar)
8 sheets of gelatin
Ingredients for jelly:
juice from 3 – 4 organic oranges
juice from the rhubarb compote
2 – 4 tbsp liquid honey
6 sheets of gelatin
How to – rhubarb compote:
Remove leaves from rhubarbs and rinse the stalks well. There is a small membrane near the 'feet', which can be carefuly pulled or scraped of. You will need about 1 kg cleansed stalks. Part them lengthwise if they're very thick. Cut them in approx ½ – 1 cm pieces. Put the rhubarbs in a baking pan with the sugar, add finely chopped chili, finely grated orange zest and vanilla. Mix everything well.
Bake in preheated oven set at 200 degrees celcius for about 20 minutes until tender (rhubarbs soft, but still in whole pieces). Flip them around in the pan in 5 minutes intervals. Take out baking pan and let cool completely on the kitchen table, so that the rhubarb pieces cools down covered in their own juice.
How to – base:
Crush the biscuits as coarse or fine as you like them and mix them with walnuts and melted butter.
Press mixture into bottom of a greased springform pan. Use your fingers or the backside of a ladle.
Let it set in the refrigerator for ½ hour.
How to – filling:
Put the rhubarbs in a sieve with a bowl underneath and leave them to drip 'dry' (save the juice for making the jelly) – make small pancake flips a few times while draining, so that the rhubarbs will be gently turned and drained all over.
Soak gelatin sheets in cold water for 8 – 10 minutes.
Whip cream cheese, cream, creme fraiche and sugar until it reaches the consistensy of lightly whipped cream. Add egg yolks, chili and vanilla. Don't mix it in until the gelatin is added.
Remove the gelatin from the water and melt it over low heat with the water that clings to it.
Stir gelatin in the mix in a thin stream. Stir quickly while doing so.
Whip egg whites untill very stiff and fold them into the mix together with the drained rhubarb pieces. Pour the mix into the springform pan and flatten the surface gently. Cover with cling film.
Refridgerate the cake for at least a couple of hours – maybe until next day.
If you let it cool until the next day, then wrap the oranges one by one in clingfilm or put them in an airtight box and keep them in the fridge. Also save the rhubarb juice in the fridge.
How to – jelly:
Soak gelatin sheets in cold water for 8 – 10 minutes.
Squeeze the oranges and mix the juice with rhubarb juice and honey.
Remove the gelatin from the water and melt it over low heat with the water that clings to it.
Stir gelatin in the juice mix in a thin stream. Stir quickly while doing so. Wait 5-10 minutes while the juice is setting just a bit so that the consistency is like syrup.
Pour the mix gently over the cake and refrigerate again for a minimum of 4 hours until serving. Jelly must be easy to cut, not runny.
Tips:
I use 1 Habanero for each of the rhubarb compote and the rest of the filling – that is 2 in all.
Use a springform pan larger than 25 cm if possible. I used 25 cm in the photos – in my first making of this cake - and it was filled to the brim and therefore almost impossible to balance with until jelly stiffened. If your largest springform pan is 25 cm, you can save a few dl of the filling in a small bowl of its own, when making the cake, all will be well – and you can use the extra filling for a bonus dessert.
Use organic or pasteurized eggs. Organic will taste the best (but be aware of what the health issues are in your country when using raw eggs).
The filling can be cut with at knife, it is very soft though, almost like a mousse. If you prefer a more firm texture, then use a few extra sheets of gelatine.