Doesn’t TaZte Like Chicken

Location: My tiny kitchen

About a couple of months ago I made a mango cheesecake and after I posted a picture of it online, many people asked me how it was plated. I remember my reply to everyone was, “it’s easy!”. Although appears fancy, the mango cheesecake was plated with only a few simple tools using a little amount of time.

For those of you who asked me how the plating was done: read the following steps so that you’ll know I’m right about how easy it is

Before you begin, you need to take 3 package of 8 oz cream cheese (24 oz in total) and 3 eggs out of the fridge and leave them at room temperature. Do not begin baking until these ingredients are warmed up to room temperature. Having these ingredients at room temperature is important for creating a smooth cheesecake.

Turn the oven on for 300F.

You will need 4 mangoes. Slice the mangoes in half and discard the middle section containing the pit. Using a spoon, spoon out all the flesh.

Using a hand blender, blend the mango flesh into a puree.

To ensure a smooth texture, pass the mango puree through a sieve.
Mix in 2 tbsp of lemon juice.
Taste the puree to check how sweet it is. If you find the puree too sour, add in sugar a spoonful at a time until you think it is sweet enough.

With the mango puree ready, it’s time to prepare the crust. I go for the lazy way - mix out-of-the-box graham cracker crumbs with butter.

In a bowl, put in 1 and 1/4 cup of graham cracker crumbs. Mix 1/4 cup of melted butter into the crumbs.

Press the crumbs firmly into a 9” springform pan. Push the crumbs 1” up the side of the pan.
Put the pan into the oven and bake the crumbs for 10 mins.
Let the pan cool down after the crumbs are done.

In an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat cream cheese at medium speed for 3 minutes.
Put in 1 and 1/4 cup of sugar and continue to beat for 5 minutes until the cream cheese is fluffy.
Add in eggs one at a time. Add the next egg only when the previous one has been fully incorporated into the cream cheese.
Add in 1 cup of the mango puree. Save the rest for later use.
Add in 2 tbsp of flour.
Add in 1 tbsp of vanilla extract.
Add in 1/4 tsp of salt.

Cover the bottom of the springform pan with aluminum foil. Pour the cheesecake batter into the pan. Run the batter back and forth with a knife to release air bubbles. When running the knife through the batter, be careful not to run the knife too deep into the batter and scrap the crumbs off the bottom of the pan.

Pour an inch of hot water into a huge baking pan. Place the springform pan into the baking pan.

Bake at 300F for 1.5 hour. After 1.5 hour, turn off the heat and leave the cake in the oven for 20 minutes with the oven door ajar. To check if the cake is done, gently shake the springform pan - the cake should be solid on the edge and giggling a little at the centre.

After leaving the cake in the oven with no heat for 20 minutes, take the cake out and place the pan on a wire rack to cool.

Once the cake has been cooled down completely, put the cake in the fridge for 5 hours before cutting it.

Now the fun begins. To plate the cake, you will need the following:

- Raspberry sauce filled in a squeeze bottle.
- 1 chopstick
- A spoon
- The mango puree which you saved earlier
- A plate (of course!); preferably square in shape

Put 2 tbsp of mango puree in the middle of the dish. Draw a yellow circle on the dish using the bottom of the spoon.
Using the squeeze bottle, draw an inner and an outer circle on the dish.

And a secret is now revealed (drum rolling): to make the “spider” pattern, use a chopstick and make one swift and steady stroke from the centre of the yellow circle to the outside. I usually make 4 long strokes by ending the chopstick outside the yellow circle. Then I make 4 short strokes by ending the chopstick right at the edge of the yellow circle.

To add the finishing touch, I place a dot of raspberry sauce at the end of each stroke.
Put a slice of the mango cheesecake on the pattern and there you have it: