Every Diwali, I experimented with traditional flavours and I loved doing it so much that I started developing different confections for different festivals. Rachel Goenka’s Adventures with Mithai is the product of seven years of experimentation, toil and quirk. The inspiration is simple – elevating mithai in a fun way by taking our favourites and jazzing them up! Mithai is amazing on its own, but there is so much more that you can do with it.
Ingredients
Crust
- 550 gm chocolate barfi (only brown layer)
- 110 gm digestive biscuits
- 45 gm unsalted butter, softened
- 20 gm granulated sugar
Filling
- 380 gm Philadelphia cream cheese
- 200 gm dark chocolate, roughly chopped
- 175 gm heavy cream
- 75 gm castor sugar
- 7.5 gm cornflour
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
Garnish
- 150 gm chocolate barfi
- 20 gm roasted almond flakes
Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius.
- In a food processor, pulse the biscuits to a fine crumb. Add the softened butter and pulse until mixed. Add the granulated sugar and pulse again.
- Press the crumb mixture onto the bottom of a greased 9-inch springform cake tin.
- If the chocolate barfi you are using is brown and white, cut out the white and only use the brown layer.
- Layer the chocolate barfi over the crumb base. Gently press down to eliminate any gaps.
- In a bowl, mix cream cheese, castor sugar and cornflour, and whisk till smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- In a saucepan, heat the cream and bring it to a simmer.
- Pour the warm cream over the chopped chocolate. Let the mixture sit for a minute before stirring till smooth.
- Add vanilla essence to the ganache. Gently fold the cream cheese mixture with the ganache and then pour the batter over the chocolate barfi crust.
- Bake the cheesecake in a water bath (place the cheesecake pan in a larger square tin and pour hot water in the tin till it comes halfway up the sides of the pan). Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until the centre is set.
- Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of the pan to loosen the cheesecake, then cool for 60 minutes longer.
- Garnish with cubes of chocolate barfi and roasted almond flakes.
Excerpted with permission from Rachel Goenka’s Adventures with Mithai, Rachel Goenka, HarperCollins.
Rachel Goenka is the Founder and CEO of The Chocolate Spoon Company, which owns and operates award-winning restaurants across Mumbai and Pune, including The Sassy Spoon, House of Mandarin, Wicked China and Baraza Bars & Bites. She is also the talent behind Sassy Teaspoon, a chain of quaint bakeries & patisseries. Declared ‘Young Restaurateur of the Year’ at the Restaurant India Awards in 2018, Rachel was named one of the ‘30 Women Entrepreneurs to Watch in India’ by The CEO Magazine in 2018. A graduate of Journalism and English from the Pennsylvania State University, Rachel attended Ballymaloe Cookery School in Ireland, where she trained under celebrity chef Rachel Allen. She then moved to Le Cordon Bleu in London to specialize in patisserie. Rachel Goenka’s Adventure’s with Mithai is her debut as an author.
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