Engagements. Slowly but surely, all of my friends are pairing off. I’m couldn’t be happier for them. Most recently was my old housemate Richard. He’s been with his now fiancée for almost three years now and they’ve moved away from Leeds, gotten themselves nicely onto their respective career paths  and finally the other week he popped the question. They organised engagement drinks and I of course, offered to bake for them. Something like this is a fairly special occasion, so I wanted to do something a bit more fancy and decadent than my usual, run of the mill, cookies or cupcakes. I decided I wanted to do a high cake, and thus, decided on a Cheesecake Gateaux. Now, cheesecakes aren’t really my forte. I’m great with cakes and the like, but I’ve never done this too often. It prayed on my mind a bit the night before, and when I was placing it between the two cake layers on the morning on the party, it almost ended in disaster. It started to fall apart. When finally assembled though, this cake looks and tastes absolutely phenomenal.

Finishing this off with a simple cream cheese ganache just takes it to the next level. Each slice is excessive and delightful, without feeling like you’ve run a marathon. This needs a fair bit of fridge space, so make sure you’ve got the time and the space available.

Cheesecake Gateaux

 

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Ingredients

• Cheesecake:
• 500 g cream cheese
• 134g raw sugar
• 2 eggs
• 80ml heavy cream
• 80ml whipping cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• a pinch of salt
• Cake:
• 320g Cups white flour
• 300g White granulated sugar
• 4 tbsp Cocoa powder
• 1 ½ tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 354ml vegetable oil
• 236ml plain buttermilk
• Ganache:
• 500 g cream cheese
• 150g caster sugar
• 110 g unsalted butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 150g Dark chocolate

Instructions

1. Start with the cheesecake. Preheat your oven to 170°C (150 °C fan). Take a 22cm cake tin, lining it with non-stick paper, wrapping the outside tightly in foil to ensure that the water doesn’t get in. Place this in the center of a high sided roasting tin (or alternatively a larger cake tin).
2. Beat the cheese until it’s smooth. Add the salt and the sugar, beating for around 5 minutes.
3. Beat the eggs then add them. Beating well after the addition. Add both creams, and the vanilla, beat until well combined.
4. Transfer the mixture into the prepared cake tin. Pour warm water into the larger tin, until it’s around ¾ of the way up the cake tin.
5. Place in the oven and bake for around 40 minutes.
6. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
7. For the cake. Preheat the oven to 180 °C (160 °C fan) and prepare two 22cm cake tins, lining them with paper.
8. Combine all the dry ingredients in the bowl of your mixer. Giving them a quick mix.
9. Create a well in the center and add the wet ingredients: eggs, buttermilk and oil.
10. Pour into the cake tins, ensuring each of them are a similar amount.
11. Place in the center of the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a tooth pick inserted in to the center comes out clean.
12. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack. Once the cakes and the cheesecake have cooled, chill in the fridge.
13. For the Ganache. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.. Add the cream cheese and vanilla extract and beat until smooth and thick.
14. Place this bowl in the fridge and allow it to chill.
15. Once everything has chilled sufficiently, place the bottom layer of your cake onto your cake stand or whatever it is you’ll be using to present it. Then place the cheesecake layer on top and finally the last cake layer. Take half of the ganache and, using a long spatula, cover the cake lightly.
16. Chill for a further 20 minutes, then cover in the rest of the ganache. Top with the chocolate (I blended it to get it nicely chopped).

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