Chocolate Cheesecake Illusion Dessert

by regan_jane in Cooking > Dessert

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Chocolate Cheesecake Illusion Dessert

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Could there BE anything better than a rich, creamy dessert pretending to be a boring, old orange?
Perfect dessert for all those people who cringe whenever they are told to have a piece of fruit for dessert.
This orange chocolate cheesecake has a consistency of a thick mousse with bits of stem ginger for some extra texture and heat.

Supplies

300g room temperature cream cheese
2TBS room temperature butter
150g melted and cooled orange chocolate (or plain chocolate with orange essential oil)
2TBS diced ginger stem (or glacé ginger or candied ginger)
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar
zest from one orange

500g marzipan (or fondant, if you don't like marzipan)
orange and green food colouring- gel or paste, not liquid
1/4 cup powdered sugar
handful of toothpicks

Cream Cheese

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Whip cheese, butter, half the sugar and orange zest with a whisk. Add melted, cooled chocolate and whisk well.

Chocolate and Ginger

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Add diced ginger, start with one spoon, taste and add more if you don't mind a little heat.

Whipped Cream

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Whip heavy cream with the remaining sugar, whip until it reaches stiff peaks. Gently fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture.

Moulds

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Use small ball moulds or small round bowls to create ball shaped portions. Put the balls in the freezer for 2-4 hours, until set enough to shape, but not rock-hard.

Shaping

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Once the cheesecake is set firm, but not too hard to shape, pick them up and shape them into round balls. Put them back into the freezer for 1-3 hours until set firm.

Marzipan

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Pretty self-explanatory, dye grape sized marzipan (or fondant) green and the rest orange (yellow + red).

Covering

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Sprinkle powdered sugar liberally on the counter top, place a piece of marzipan down, sprinkle more powdered sugar on top and roll out. Roll it out evenly, to about 3-4 mm thickness. Place one frozen cheesecake ball in the middle, join the sides together, cut the excess off, pick the whole thing up and shape it with your hands.

Details

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Use a rubber band to tie the toothpicks together and use them to prick the skin of the 'orange'.
Use a sharp knife to gently score 8 segments on top.
Make a green flower stalk and stick it on top.

Put them in the fridge to thaw for a few hours before serving.

Shine

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Coloured marzipan can be a bit flat and dull looking, so to make the orange colour pop up you will have to give it a bit of shine just before you serve them.
Do it with steam. If you don't have a professional cake steamer, you can use a regular iron and shoot steam over the 'oranges' (use this method only if you use plain water in your iron). If you have a tiny kitchen, you could close all doors and windows, boil a pot of water until kitchen is steamed up and leave the 'oranges' out until they become shiny.
Another way is to mix one part corn syrup and one part clear alcohol, gently brush a thin layer onto the 'oranges'. Third option is to brush them with food grade glycerine.

Enjjoy!

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