Recipe - Cantabrian Cheesecake with Brandied fruit

This recipe is a hybrid of Jamie Oliver’s Cantabrian Cheesecake and ‘About Food’s’ Brandied fruit.

The good news is the cheesecake (not the fruit) freezes really well! Found this out by accident (a significant accident at that – note to self to learn the difference between a freezer and fridge). If, for whatever reason, you decide to make it ahead and freeze it, allow at least 3 hours to defrost. The difference between one hour vs 3 is huge.

Cheesecake Ingredients

• 100g unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups (330g) raw caster sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped
• 300g ricotta cheese
• 2 cups (500ml) milk
• 1 1/4 cups (185g) plain flour
• Finely grated zest of 1 lemon (I only used half this qty)

Cheesecake Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease a 20cm springform cake pan and line the base with baking paper. Place pan on a baking tray.
2. Using electric beaters, beat the butter for 2 minutes or until pale. 
3. Add the sugar and beat until thick and pale. 
4. Beat in the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. 
5. Stir through the vanilla seeds, ricotta, milk and a pinch of salt. 
6. Fold in flour and lemon zest. 
7. Pour into pan and bake on tray for 60 minutes or until golden and set but with a slight wobbly in the centre. Chill in the pan for 2 hours.

Brandied Fruit Ingredients (can make this ahead – we’re talking months!)

• 3 cups diced fruit of choice (cherries, blueberries, plums and peeled nectarines and peaches)
• 1.5 cups granulated sugar
• 1.5  cups firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup (or more as necessary) good-quality brandy

Brandied Fruit Method

1. In a large bowl, combine fruit and sugars, tossing well. Cover and let macerate for 1 hour, tossing every 15 minutes.
2. Pour in brandy, making sure fruit is submerged. Cover and store in a cool place for at least one month ideally. Since the brandied fruit will only improve with age, let the flavors develop for more than one month. In saying this, I did this the day before making the cheesecake and it was great.

Sources:

• http://www.delicious.com.au/recipes/cantabrian-cheesecake/e731a2fc-b34f-4555-bc66-96cf67f2f7dc?current_section=recipes
• http://easteuropeanfood.about.com/od/crossculturaldesserts/r/brandiedfruit.htm