Recipe: New York Cheese Cake

(Recipe by Michel Roux)
Mmmmh, this cake is perfect for autumn, served with a cappuccino or coffee, accompanied by your favourite read.
Here’s how to prepare it:

Ingredients: 

For the Base:

• 33 g melted butter, plus 10 g to grease
• 125 g digestive biscuits

For the Filling:

• 500 g cream cheese, softened
• 1 tbsp milk
• 175 g caster sugar
• 18 g plain flour
• Very finely grated zest of 1/2 orange
• Very finely grated zest of 1/2 lemon
• 3 eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 vanilla pot split lengthways

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Butter a 22 cm cake tin and place it onto a baking sheet.
Using a pestle and mortar crush the biscuits into fine crumbs, then transfer them to a bowl and add the melted butter. Mix thoroughly.
Pour the biscuit mixture into the cake tin and spread it into a uniform layer, pressing it firmly and evenly.
Bake the base for 12 minutes until firm, then set aside to cool, still keeping the tin on the baking sheet.

Increase the oven setting to 220°C.
Use an electric mixer to beat the cream cheese, milk, sugar, flour and grated citrus zests into an even, smooth, light and creamy mixture.
On a low speed, incorporate the eggs one at a time, followed by the egg yolks.
Scrape the vanilla seeds from the pod into the mixture.
Scrape the sides of the bowl several times to ensure the filling is homogeneous.
Pour the filling over the biscuit base and bake for 12 minutes, then lower the oven setting to 100°C and cook for a further 1 hour until set but still slightly wobbly at the centre.
Turn the oven off, leaving the cheese cake inside the oven with the door slightly a jar for 1 hour to cool slowly.

Transfer the cake in its tin to a wire rack to cool completely, then refrigerate for at least 6 hours before serving.

Carefully cut the cake into slices using a very sharp knife dipped in hot water between each cut.

Bon Appétit! 

 

Gardening Project – Step 3: Protecting plants against frost

It really is cold in London these days!
The migrating pigeons on our cherry tree, have fluffed up their feathers to the max as if they were wearing thick jackets.
I find them cute, but also feel a bit sorry for them.

The one on the left keeps his beak and feet as much as possible under the ‘duvet’!

So this is the setting in which I received the climbers I ordered last week online. Immediately after unpacking, I added the Indian Summer Capsis and Honeysuckle to the pots on the staircase.

However, as frost is forecast for the next few nights, I covered the climbers with newspaper. This will keep them warm enough but still allow them to breath.