Friday 19 August 2011

Cheesecake Mousse with Summer Fruits and Almond Crumble


Last weekend I was in London. More specifically, I was at The Hempel with a big group of food bloggers for Food Blogger Connect 2011. I had a lovely weekend filled with interesting talks and classes, meeting new people and eating gorgeous food.

My favourite element of said gorgeous food was the dessert we had on Friday night. We had little white bowls of summer berries topped with an incredible cheesecake mousse flecked with vanilla and a sprinkling of sweet crumble. I loved the balance of textures and flavours.

So, in the spirit of commemoration, I decided to try and recreate it.



(Photo credit to Šárka Babická of Cook Your Dream - can you spot me?)

After a few tries, I think I've just about managed to do it justice. Though there are three components, it's a simple dessert to make and doesn't take much time - just a bit of chilling.

Have a look at the #FBC11 hashtag on twitter for sneak peaks of some of the talks and other round up posts. I don't have a list of all the great bloggers who attended and their blogs, but you can find most of them there.


Cheesecake Mousse with Summer Fruits and Almond Crumble
(crumble adapted from John Murray's recipe)

For the cheesecake mousse:
85g cream cheese
30g icing sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
seeds of 1/3 of a vanilla bean
100ml thick double cream

For the crumble:
20g whole almonds (or ground)
20g plain flour
20g cold unsalted butter, cubed
20g caster sugar

For the summer fruits:
200g assorted fruits - I used raspberries and blackberries
25g caster sugar
1 tsp lemon juice

Beat the cream cheese in a bowl until smooth. Add the icing sugar, vanilla extract and vanilla seeds and whisk in. In another bowl, whip the double cream until it holds firm peaks. Whisk 1/3 of the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture. Add the remaining 2/3 of the cream and fold in with a big spoon until uniform. Place into the fridge and chill for at least 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 170C. Place the whole almonds and flour into a food processor and pulse until you have a fine powder. Add the sugar and pulse to combine. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles wet sand. Tip out onto a greased baking sheet and spread out with a fork, fluffing it up as you go. Bake for 5 minutes then remove and break any lumps up with a fork. Place back into the oven and bake for another 3-5 minutes until the crumbs are pale golden colour.

Wash and prepare the summer fruits as needed. Sprinkle over the sugar and lemon juice and leave to macerate for ten minutes.

To assemble divide the fruits between six ramekins or small bowls. Take the mousse out of the fridge and form into 6 or 12 balls or quenelles with spoon/two spoons/an ice cream scoop. Divide out between the portions, placing each ball carefully on top of the fruit. Sprinkle with some of the almond crumble.

(Makes six)

12 comments:

  1. Emma, Well done you for recreating this mini masterpiece of a pudding! It was lovely to meet you, too, and we must definitely meet up when you're back in London. I want to hear all about the wonderful world of pastry. :-)

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  2. Hi Emma, it was very lovely to meet you last week in London! Unfortunately I missed this amazing dessert on Friday, so I'm very happy that I can make at home thanks to you! Thank you for sharing it with us!

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  3. This is beautiful! And looks amazingly delicious, I might add. Definitely on my 'must make' list before we can no longer get fresh berries around these parts.

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  4. I loved the cheesecake on Friday! it was one of my favourites of the whole weekend!
    I am so happy to have met you! :)

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  5. OOOOOh what a lovely take on the classic cheesecake! I like! And I think I spotted you in the middle!!!!

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  6. Gretchen - Definitely - would be lovely. I'm just trying to sort out housing - chaos!

    Sari - Oh how sad you missed it! Glad to be able to provide a recipe, though I'm not sure if it's quite as good! Thanks again for the use of your lovely photo.

    Madison Mayberry - I had the problem that our berries are on the decline, especially raspberries. So sad that the season is ending! Glad you liked it.

    Juls - It really was delicious. I'm very happy to have met you too :)

    Sukaina - it's a great new take, I was very impressed when we were given it. Hehe I am in the middle bit yes :)

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  7. I missed the dessert too on Friday night. Yours looks delicious. Lovely to remember it. Missing FBC already!

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  8. The dessert looks great. Too bad for me missed out on the FBC, hope to make it next year.

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  9. Hi Emma,
    Thanks for posting this. I had to shoot off after the main course so did not get a chance to taste the wonderful dessert. How pretty! Hope you are finding your feet in the kitchen once more ;-)

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  10. Fabulicious Food - What a shame - I hadn't realised how few people were about at that point. It's funny going back to normal life :)

    Tres Delicious - Do come - it would be lovely to meet you and it's a great event!

    MeLikeyUk - I remember now - what a shame. I had such withdrawal symptoms from the kitchen!

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  11. Ahhh, that was my favourite thing I ate too! Thanks for recreating it Emma.
    It was lovely to meet you and just want to say how gorgeous your photos are on here, I love the chocolate lace work you do.

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  12. Nic - I remember how much you liked it too! Lovely to meet you too :)

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