Rosehip Tea Cheesecake with Vanilla Genoise

HAPPY FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH, everybody!!

Don’t know if I mentioned this before but a few months back I discovered the most amazing tea blend at my local supermarket. That week alone I must have gone through boxes of the stuff, making myself mug after mug of the creamy pink brew. Along with rose petals, I have a strong suspicion the tea also contains chamomile flowers … or so my nose tells me.

After about a month I started thinking about incorporating my new found favourite beverage into cakes and things. It was the natural progression of my thoughts; it could not have possibly gone any other way. I had a bit of a toss up between making a rose tea mousse and this cheesecake. Eventually I went with the cheesecake idea (but I just might re-do this recipe and use the mousse option anyway on a later day). My cheesecake today does not come with a biscuit base, rather it has two layers of vanilla genoise inside the cream cheese.

To begin, get the ingredients as follows.

Ingredients:

• 2 teabags rosehip tea
• 100 mls cream
• 400 g soft cream cheese
• 4 sheets gelatine, softened
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp rosewater
• 2 vanilla genoise circles

Start by snipping the teabag and dumping it into a saucepan. Pour the cream into the same saucepan and bring it up to a gentle simmer. Do not boil the cream. Once it is hot enough, cover the pan and turn off the heat. Allow the tea to steep for five to ten minutes, then strain the cream and pop it in the fridge to cool completely. You can do this step the night before.

Next, get on with the genoise. I used this recipe – Vanilla Genoise – and it turned out pretty nice. However, if you don’t have time to fuss, just use a store-bought cake and slice it to fit your tin. If you are doing it from scratch then spread the mixture onto a greased sheet of parchment, then cut out the rounds slightly smaller than your tin. Leave about 2 cm gap between the sponge cake and the sides of the tin.

Now comes the easy part … the cheesecake. Place all the cheese, sugar, rosewater and tea infused cream into a bowl. Whisk to combine and taste to see if you are happy with the flavours.

Now melt the gelatine sheets in a splash more cream and add this to the cream cheese mixture. Work quickly from here on, before the gelatine starts to set.

Place a sponge circle in the center of your tin. Pour half the cream cheese mix over and shake the tin to settle everything. Then place a second sponge circle on top and slightly squish it down into the mixture. With the rest of the mixture, I added just a single drop of red food dye and made everything a nice baby pink. Pour this all over the sponge cake and shake the tin again. Smooth off the top with a spatula and shove everything into the fridge to chill.

I ate a slice of this cake and it was as amazing as I had imagined it in my head … only creamier and more decadent from the cream cheese. A little slice of heaven.

~ Enjoy ~