Tiramisu Cheesecake

I have a little something for you from back in July when it seemed the sunshine would never stop and each day was hotter than the next. I'm sorry it's been so long. Life reared up and got in the way, it became an endless hunt for a new apartment which is a different kettle of fish here in Amsterdam to what I am used to in the UK.
Your first challenge is just getting a foot in the door with the estate agents. You spend your mornings hunting the websites for properties (websites that aren't updated regularly so that 'new' property is actually over a week old and let already!) and then you have to fill in an online form showing your interest. This form wants to know all the basics and then it also wants to know how much money you bring in at the end of every month. Here in Amsterdam a requirement to rent many properties is that your household income be at least three times the monthly rent on any prospective property, and in some cases I found closer to 4/4.5. Cue me almost having a breakdown because there is no space to explain that I will return to work but I'm taking time out to raise my infant son. All they see is that pesky zero. You then have to wait to hear back from them to find out if you are good enough to even view the flat in a viewing that is generally an open house with perhaps 4 other prospective couples. You could cut the palpable tension with a knife as everyone smiles and knods their heads at each other as you wander round but you are all crying inside 'Pick me, PICK ME!' because there are more renters than there are apartments.

Another common case is that when you rent an unfurnished apartment here in Amsterdam is that unfurnished actually means just the shell. The apartment is bare, right down to the concrete floor. So after we found a lovely apartment and actually got accepted as tenants we were then faced with the task of furnishing it from the floor up. Life then became hardware store visits and trips to IKEA. You have to love IKEA though. You come for the affordable flat pack furniture and stay for the gravy covered meatballs and princess cake that await you after you have walked their maze of showrooms.

Somehow we prevailed. We chose flooring, furniture and light fittings and we got them all in the new apartment (cue more than a few long, dusty days surviving on Subway footlongs) and packed everything up from our old apartment and bought it over to the new one. This is not the first or probably the last time we will move but doing it with a sixth month old is a whole new ball game! With the exception of a few pictures left to hang we are in and settled and the no longer empty apartment is now our home. Now all that work is done I have time to write again.....just about wee man is very nearly crawling and we had to drop his cot down a level last night before bed time as he has mastered the ability to pull himself up. I am ever fearful he has inherited my clumsy gene so I have to keep one eye on him at all times - it's better to be safe than sorry!

My recipe for this post is something I made back in July but, if you follow my Instagram, it is something I first made a couple of years ago that I was reminded of when I was looking back through some of my old bakes on my old Facebook page (Miss Kiplings Cakes if you want to have a look back to when cupcakes were en vogue). I saw it and I knew I had to make it again.
The chance came when we had a friend visit from the UK and we invited some other friends to ours for a BBQ. This cheesecake can serve 12! I had made this up the day before in between doing all my other jobs. It takes very little time to actually make but does need at least 4 hours, but preferably over night, in the fridge to firm up.

I love cheesecake and I love tiramisu and this dessert is a perfect mash up of the two. Best of all there are no raw eggs like in a traditional tiramisu and its a no bake cheesecake so you don't have to worry about any graininess or cracking.
When you think about it quite a few of the ingredients in the two desserts are the same. They both have a cream cheese base. For a tiramisu it is the Italian cream cheese mascarpone. It's vital in a tiramisu and as it is thicker, creamier and silkier than your average cream cheese which gives this cheesecake an extra edge. That said this cheesecake, whilst rich, feels light and the coffee helps to cuts through any heaviness in the cream cheese mix.

Traditionally in a tiramisu you use Marsala wine, which is a sweet Italian wine. If you have that you can definitely use it in this recipe, you could also use sherry or amaretto liqueur, it would come out equally delicious but I like a coffee liqueur and feel it keeps the coffee flavour clean and distinct.

Before we get to the recipe I have to make a confession to you. The cheesecake I made for this post does not contain bourbon biscuits. I could not find them here in Amsterdam. They are still my biscuit of choice for this recipe because they are a personal favourite of mine and I like the symmetry of a chocolate base and top (the top is sprinkled with cocoa) but in all honesty you can use whatever you prefer - similar chocolate sandwich biscuits, more traditional digestive biscuits, or *kruidnoten, like I have here, because I have a seemingly inexhaustible bag of the them!

TIRAMISU CHEESECAKE
Serves 12 

Ingredients

175g Bourbon Biscuits
40g Butter, melted plus extra for greasing
400g Mascarpone
200g Cream Cheese
100g Condensed Milk
200ml Double Cream
1/2 tsp Vanilla Bean Paste
200g Ladies Fingers
150ml Strong Black Coffee, cold
50ml Coffee Liquer
1 tbsp Cocoa (for dusting)

• Grease a 20cm/8 inch springform cake tin with melted butter and line the base with a disc of baking parchment. Place in the fridge.
• To make the base place the bourbon biscuits in your food processor and pulse until they become a fine crumb (if you don't have a food processor, or you have simply got some things to work out, place the biscuits in a plastic food bag, push all the air out, seal and wrap in a tea towel and proceed to bash the merry hell out of them until they are sandy and your issues are resolved)
• Pour the biscuit crumb into a bowl and add the butter. Stir to combine and then pack into the bottom of your prepared cake tin. Place in the fridge to chill.
• Place the double cream and vanilla in the bowl of your stand mixer and whip until it forms soft peaks. Set to one side. 
• In a fresh bowl beat together the mascarpone, cream cheese and condensed milk. Add the cream to the mascarpone mixture and fold together, gently.
• Remove the prepared base from the fridge and spoon over one third of the cheesecake mix. Smooth the surface with an offset spatula.
• Pour the cold coffee and coffee liqueur in to a shallow dish. Dip the sponge fingers in the coffee one by one turning them over so they soak up an even amount of the coffee. Lay them in tight rows all pointing toward the catch of the cake tin with a 1cm gap around the edge. This is purely for aesthetic reasons so when you cut into it they are all nice and even.
• Once the layer is complete top with another third of the cheesecake mixture and smooth the surface with the offset spatula. Repeat the process with another layer of sponge fingers topped with the last third of the cheesecake mixture.
• Smooth the top of the cheesecake and chill for around 4 hours although over night is best.
• Before you remove it from the tin to serve dust the surface with the cocoa powder.

*Kruidnoten are Dutch cookies that are generally sold round Christmas (yes I have had the bag that long) they are small, spiced and crunchy. They are the same in flavour as Speculoos cookies or spread which is in turn the same as Lotus biscuits. So there you are you could also use Lotus biscuits for the base!

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