Mandarins chocolate cheesecake
 
Prep time
Total time
 
What to say about this marvel! As I usually can not stay,and because I was craving for for something sweet, I started making this cheesecake.The orange and chocolate, a combination of dream I would say, refreshing, creamy, but quite consistent, an excellent dessert for the holiday and does not require too much effort! You can prepare it for New Year, the day before, preferably, to have time to thicken perfect!
Author:
Recipe type: desert
Cuisine: Romanian
Serves: 10
Ingredients
  • 22 cm diameter form
  • Base:
  • 200 g plain biscuits (or digestive)
  • 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
  • 100g butter
  • Cream:
  • 450 gr mascarpone cheese
  • Philadelphia cream cheese 250gr (special cheesecake)
  • 500 ml whipped cream (min. 30% fat)
  • 15 gr gelatin granules (hydrated and dissolved)
  • 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 canned mandarins (less than 200 gr)
  • 1 teaspoon orange (optional)
  • For decorating:
  • 1 canned mandarins (280 gr)
  • 100g dark chocolate (55% cocoa content )
Instructions
  1. Notes:
  2. If you want the cheesecake to have a fluffy consistency, creamy, use only 10 grams gelatin.
  3. Do not put too much fruit inside the cream, fruits leaves their juice and this can soften the cream!
  4. Instead of using mascarpone cheese (which is a special cheese for cakes and with a high content in fat), you can use just ricotta cheese or Philadelphia cream cheese (in this case three packages of 250 gr)
  5. Sugar is adjusted according to your taste!
  6. Good luck!
  7. Base:
  8. Crush biscuits in food processor until fine, then mix them with powdered sugar.
  9. Melt butter in the microwave (or over low heat) then add it to the biscuits composition. Mix by hand until the dough is crumbly.
  10. Inside a detachable ring (over a plate) for cakes put the crumbly biscuits and flatten them by pressing gently with your hand. Refrigerate about 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile make the cream.
  11. Note: I used a special ring for cakes that has no removable bottom, so if you want to put biscuit dough into a cake pan with removable ring, you can bake them for 10 minutes in preheated oven at 350F..
  12. Cream:
  13. Hydrate the gelatin in the juice from canned mandarins. The juice should cover gelatin with 1 inch. When you add it to the cream, warm up the hydrated gelatine in the microwave for 30 seconds (the gelatin shouldn't boil and it has to be homogenous). When you add it in the cream mixture, gelatin has to be room temperature, so let it cool.
  14. Beat whipping cream until stiff and refrigerate it until you mix the cream cheese.
  15. Mix cream cheese Philadelphia for few seconds to become creamy (ideally be at room temperature, but I've done it even cold).
  16. Add the mascarpone cheese and mix well until smooth. Don't over mix!
  17. Add sugar, spoon by spoon and mix after each addition. If you think it is not sweet enough you can add more sugar, I do not like the cheesecake to be too sweet, however is quite consistent as a dessert!
  18. Take out the whipping cream from the fridge and gradually incorporate it in the cheese filling. Do not mix too much because it can curdle! Mix just enough to incorporate it, few seconds.
  19. If you want the cheesecake to be more flavorful, you can add a teaspoon of orange essence (which I have not had available), if you do not, just add vanilla and remaining canned mandarin juice and homogenize well . Vanilla can be placed earlier in the cream.
  20. Finally, add the gelatine which should be at room temperature and mix to incorporate.
  21. Remove crust from refrigerator and put half of cream mixture inside removable ring and level with a spoon. Place all over mandarins. You can press them slightly with your finger in the cream.
  22. Put the other half of the cream on top and level it slightly with a spoon or spatula.
  23. Refrigerate cheesecake overnight (or at least 5 hours) to thicken perfect.
  24. Decorating:
  25. First, carefully remove the removable ring. Cream cheese may stick to the walls of the ring, but you can easily pull a knife blade on the cheesecake before the ring is off. If it comes out uneven, there's no problem, easy, level the sides with a knife and then decorate with dark chocolate cut in thin slices.
  26. Stick chocolate pieces by hand on the edges of the cake, then wipe excess the with a brush.
  27. Above, I put a smaller circle on a cake (if you don't have such a little form, make a circle out of a paper) then sprinkle chocolate over the cheesecake edges. Remove the circle, and place mandarins in the middle.
  28. The slices of mandarins must be drained out of juice on a paper towel so you do not "puddle" :-) on the cake.
  29. That's all it is particularly fine, creamy, fragrant and refreshing, perfect for a special day! Every day of our lives can be special isn't it?
  30. Happy Holidays and lots of success in the coming year!
  31. Enjoy!
Recipe by gabriela cuisine at https://gabrielacuisine.ro/cheesecake-cu-mandarine-si-ciocolata/