Good Girls Bake Cake

It was my father's 60th birthday on Monday, and all he wanted was a meal cooked by his women (the wife and daughters). What a classic Indian father. We split the effort, with me taking on the asparagus mimosa, beef wellington and birthday cake. Those who read this blog may have realised that I apparently married my father, since the Hubs requested the exact same things for his birthday. I decided that their taste in birthday cakes would probably be similar, so made the same cake I had made Hubs (that is, the second cake, since he had two) - a ferrero rocher cheesecake. I adapted the recipe from the Fig Tree. The cake needs to be made a day in advance but is otherwise easy as, well, it's a piece of cake. A very rich, very decadent cake.

I keep my oven at 180 celcius or so

Step 1: The base Mix together 120g digestive crumbs 30g of ground hazelnuts 20g light brown sugar 30g melted butter 1/2 tsp vanilla extract.

Pack this tightly into the base of the cake tin (ideally springform, lined with baking paper) and bake for 5-10 minutes. This should bake till golden but can quickly burn, so it's worth keeping an eye on. Leave this to cool completely. I like to put this into the refrigerator before step 2, so it goes in cold.

Step 2: The cake Chop 180g of chocolate and mix this with 90g of nutella (approximately two large tablespoons). Place this in a bowl. Heat 450ml of whipping cream over a medium to low heat till it simmers. but don't let it burn. Once it's simmering, pour it over the chocolate and stir it till it's smooth and fully melted. Leave to cool.

Beat two packs (the standard 250g ones) of cream cheese till fluffy. The cheese needs to be at room temperature for this to work. Once it's fluffed (ha!), add 60g of sugar and beat well. Once mixed, add a tablespoon of cornstarch and combine. This shouldn't be mixed too much since air makes the cheesecake crack.

Beat two eggs and then quickly blend them into the cheese mix. Add in the chocolate slowly. Add 9 chopped ferrero rocher chocolates into the batter and pour into the pan. I quite like scattering this along the bottom of the pan. It's worth noting that the wafer can go soggy in the cake, so the pieces should be reasonably small.

Bake for 30 minutes and then turn off the heat and leave the cheesecake to sit in the oven for 40 minutes. Then let the cake rest on a wire rack, outside of the baking pan.

Step 3: Refrigerate overnight.

The recipe actually calls for Nutella icing. I've never been able to cope with this - the cake is so rich. For my father's birthday we topped it with whipped cream. An alternative would to be serve this with a dollop of mascarpone (there is no better accompaniment for cheesecake).

Brace yourself, this guy is HEAVY.