Happy Birthday Singapore

Singapore's turning 48 today,

& everyone is cheering hooray...

another reason for our diet to be led astray,

with a lemony cheese cake to celebrate away!

preparing the gelatin for stabilized whipped cream

enjoy !

Makes 10 slices off a 20-inch cake

Ingredients

Cheesecake
- 250g marie biscuits (or any sweet biscuits) --> i ran out of marie so substituted some with digestives
- 125g butter, melted
- 1 tea bag (leaves)
- 4 eggs
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 500g cream cheese
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest (~1 lemon)
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 40g plain flour --> added this to the recipe to lessen the overly creamy texture of cheesecake
- Strawberry, 3, pureed (optional)

Stabilized Whipped Cream
- 1/2 teaspoon gelatin powder
- 2 teaspoon cold water
- 1 cup heavy cream, cold
- 2 tablespoons icing sugar

Methods

Cheesecake
1. Crush and blend the biscuits until fine.
2. Add butter and tea leaves, blending till combined.
3. Press the mixture into the base and sides (only up to 1/2 the height) of a round 20-inch spring form pan.
4. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
5. Preheat oven to 160 degree C.
6. Beat eggs and sugar in a small bowl until thick and creamy.
7. Add cream cheese, lemon zest, lemon juice and flour, beating until well-combined.
8. Pour filling into the biscuit crust and smooth the top.
(optional) Swirl the strawberry puree over the top to create that ripple effect. i didn't do a great job with that BUT i do love that pink hue created, yummmm.
9. Bake for 50 minutes and cool the cake in the oven with the door ajar.
10. Refrigerate the cake overnight, covered.

Whipped Cream
11. Sprinkle gelatin over cold water in a small saucepan and let rest for 5 minutes.
12. Add a little bit of cream and heat over a stove for 30 seconds to melt the gelatin.
13. Refrigerate this mixture for 15 minutes and whisk until gelatin is smooth.
14. Beat the cold cream in a chilled bowl with chilled beaters until soft peaks form.
15. Add the gelatin mixture and icing sugar, continue beating until stiff peaks form.

The Assembly
16. Spread the whipped cream on the cake.
17. Enjoy with a cup of tea!

How was it?
pretty good. was time-consuming but all in good fun! the cake was like most cheese cake, very heavy on that cheesy creamy texture that you can't have too much of it without feeling sick. the lemon zest & juice gave the cake a refreshing and citrusy tinge, love that. the tea leaves in the crust was almost undetectable but i had spread the crust too thin and high  up the sides so maybe that's why.

Better it up!
only fill the sides with crumbs until halfway, giving the base and sides a thicker crust.

The Verdict

Recipe Adapted from....
Cook Republic (cheesecake)
Food Pusher (whipped cream)