Beer Cheesecake

I had decided to bake a cake to bring over to my office on Monday as a token of appreciation to our team 'AH KUNG' as we fondly called him. Just in case you are picturing an old guy with the age similar to your grandpa; you were wrong. He's a funny, and capable mid-age man that took care our team for last few months; so in another word - he's our boss. It's a pleasure to have him looking after our team for the past few months; we definitely learnt a lot from him.

Since he is a drinker and love beer; this cake is definitely something I hope he'll like - beer cheesecake. I was looking thru the recipe book when I saw this recipe. Something creative and innovative to try. The result - there's a slight bitterness taste in the cake, but not really very 'beer' taste but still taste good.

Wondering how to make the biscuits base for the cake? Have a look at the photos below.

Note: you can use any type of biscuits e.g. digestive biscuits, oreo biscuits, marie biscuits and cream cracker biscuits. For this cake, I had chosen cream cracker base.

To have a no messy kitchen - prepare a zip lock bag to place the crackers

Rolling pin used to smash up the crackers

End result - Smashed cream crackers ready to be mixed with melted butter to be used as the cake base

Since this cake was meant to given out as a gift, it was suppose to be flawless but it was cracking up in the middle of the baking process. Aargh! That's what I am hoping not to happen but eventually it happened. I thought the 'cracking up' incidence will be lower since I was using the 'water bath' method while baking. Sigh, I guess there's no 100% guaranteed method.

Grrrr! Why my cake cracked? That's my first reaction when looking at the cake halfway thru the baking process..

So to cover up or shall I say 'mask up' my failure, I had made another trip to the nearby grocer to buy some strawberries. Strawberries besides being used as a good snacks for fruits, they can be used for other purposes as well. Yeah, BINGO! You got it right! I am using them as my decorative items for my cheesecake. I had glazed the cake with some clear fruit glaze first and then strawberries were placed on top of the cake. The strawberries were glazed again to make them look shiny and pretty. The end result? Look at the photos yourselves.......

Strawberries - good decorative items which can cover up the flaws

My very own - beer cheesecake topped with strawberries.. The crack were hardly noticeable anymore...

Ready to be place on the box

The outer look of the box. Hope to find nicer looking ones in the future.. This design is not really my 'cup of tea'

Ingredients

Cake base

160 g cream cracker biscuits, crushed

100g melted butter

Filling

(A)

500g cream cheese

100g cheddar cheese

(B)

150g sugar

20g cornflour

(C)

3 eggs

1 egg yolk

(D)
1/2 lemon zest, grated

1/2 orange zest, grated

(E)

50g whipping cream

100g beer

Decorative

100g strawberries

Methods

1. Grease the cake tin. Press the cream cracker biscuits on the bottom of the tin. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.
2. Cream (A) till smooth. Add (B) and cream until light and fluffy.
3. Add (C) one at a time and cream till smooth. Add (D) and mix until well blended. Add (E). Cream until well combined.
4. Pour the mixture over the biscuits base. Bake in water bath at 160 degrees for approximately 60 minutes or till golden brown and centre is almost set.
5. Run a small knife around the rim of the tin to loosen the cake. Set aside to cool.
6. Cover the cake and refrigerate for 5 hours or over overnight.
7. Decorate as you desired.

Clear Fruit Glaze
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup fruit juice
2 tablespoons corn syrup/honey

Methods

1. Bring sugar and 1/2 cup juice to a boil
2. Dissolve cornstarch in the remaining juice.
3. Add to the boiling juice and cook till thick.
4. Stir in corn syrup and bring back to a boil and remove from heat.
5. Cool and drizzle over fruit.