Frozen cheese and sherbet cake
I’m only human and occasionally I have moments of lapsed judgment. When I was younger that might have entailed too much alcohol, hilarious dancing, and howling at the moon…seriously folks, I was a wide wild child. But now that I’m older I try not to damage myself…so in this case my lapsed judgment involved some organic berries trucked in from Cali. I know…the carbon footprint on those delicate little guys is almost more than I can bear; and although I hesitated, I still did it.
Because that’s when I began to imagine this frozen confection. I had some graham crackers from TJ’s that were nixed for s’more duty by my youngest, so I figured they could be used for a crust, and as I shopped I decided that some raspberry sherbet sitting on top of that crust wouldn’t be a bad thing, especially if I embedded the berries in the sherbet. Then in the back of my mind I’m going over what I could add for the next layer and I decided cream cheese and Greek yogurt mixed together with some vanilla would be a tangy, creamy counter point to the sherbet and berries.
Was it good…yup, it was. Did it have problems…oh yeah…major problems…
- It weighed a ton.
- I forgot to chill the cheese mixture after I whipped it up and when I put it on top of the sherbet it made the sherbet melt.
- Once it was fully frozen it was solid…solid like a rock.
- Did I mention it was heavy?
- The berries were large and when they froze they were like stones.
- It had to sit on the counter for at least 30 minutes before it could be cut.
- It then had to sit on the plate for another 10 minutes before it could be approached with a fork.
- It had the potential to damage teeth.
Obviously I need to rework this concept. Here’s the thing, I like cheesecake but I don’t like cheesecake that’s baked…it’s texture really freaks me out. The cheese portion of my cake was delicious, tangy and cheesy, but alas, frozen hard as a rock. The sherbet was a good addition with its sweet smoothness contrasting nicely with the crunchy hardness of the crust, but it melted before the cheese mixture softened. I think when I try to make this again I’ll use gelatin instead of freezing it…that would give my cheese portion some sturdiness. The sherbet could be substituted with… a fruit puree? Hmmm, I’m not sure about that. I do think the next crust should be made with amaretti cookies, that would be an improvement.
Okay my über intelligent, creative readers…any suggestions on how to fix this?
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18 Responses to “Frozen cheese and sherbet cake”
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I don’t know from baking - and you already fessed up to the carbon footprint thing - but OMG you bought fresh berries in May and then froze ‘em? Let me know if you want to try this cake again and I can hook you up with some organic, hyperlocal, albeit frozen, berries from my backyard.
nichole, I know…it was weird. I did eat a ton of the berries fresh but it was the sherbet tangent that screwed me up.After I put the sherbet on I remembered it would have to be frozen…it was too late to turn back. Doh!
The only berries I have left from last year are blueberries…they’re for pie.
I think you meant to write that you were a “wild” child…
good lord. even with all those “problems” i’d eat it, and i’d eat it good. it’s gorgeous and full of some of my favorite dessert components. i think it’s great. :)
That looks beautiful! The color of the berries make it look outstanding!
try making the cheesecake using gelatin- gelatin is an anti-gelating agent it will not only keep the cake from freezing too hard but also ensure you don’t break your teeth on it!
-Ed
I know what you mean! I’ve had similar lapses - the worst lately is putting really good prosciutto on a Boboli crust when I ran out of time to make one myself. *shudder*
I am thinking you could make individual little pies and keep all of the ingredients separate until you are going to serve. So you would keep the crust and sorbet part frozen…. then prior to serving you could top it with a non-bake cheescake recipe and add more whipping cream to the recipe than it calls for (so that it is closer to a whipped topping texture but not entirely). Then top with your berries (room temp). And serve!
Yummy looking cake…even with all the problems!
Drool…drool..drool. Hey, if you had to pick - would it be berries or citrus?
Niccce cake.
Barry, you’re right…thanks for catching that.
Grace, I’ll admit, it didn’t last long.
Tarah, thanks. It’s not often I ger my hands on big fat berries that are in good shape.
Ed, that’s exactly what I should do…although I’ll admit I’m sorta afraid of gelatin…I never know how much to use.
Nichole, I won’t tell anyone you messed up pork if you won’t tell anyone I screwed up berries. Ooops…too late.
Stacy lee, that’s a great idea…I love it.
sweet & saucy, it really was tasty. Thanks.
Hillary, berries, hands down. I like citrus, but I love berries. How about you?
I’m not sure if this is what you’re after, but I make a cherry cheesecake which has the biscuit base, then a non-bake cheesecake mix with a final topping made out of corn-flour, cherry juice, sugar and lemon juice. Its really, really yummy.
Anyway,here’s the recipe for the non-bake cheesecake mix;
.5c hot water
1 Tablespoon gelatine
250g cream cheese
.75c caster sugar
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
300ml cream
Dissolve gelatine in the hot water. Whip cream until stiff. Beat together cream cheese, sugar and lemon juice until smooth then add gelatine mix and beat well. Fold in whipped cream.
I usually fold in 1/2 a tin cherries or blueberries that have been halved now, then stud the rest of the cherries onto the top of the cheesecake. Then to top it off you add the juice of a tin of cherries, 1 Tbsp cornflour, 1 tbsp lemon juice and 1 tbsp sugar into a small saucepan and stir continuously over heat until it thickens. Let cool slightly then pour over cheesecake and chill.
Its a nice tangy, not too rich cheesecake mix. My mum freezes it when I take it up to her and they eat it straight out of the freezer because it never freezes completely. I think it would be fairly easy to modify for fresh berries too.
:)
Suzy, that sounds delicious and perfect, thanks for the recipe…I’ll give it a try. Question, is cornflour the same as corn starch, ie. a white powder used to thicken liquids?
Yep :) We call it cornflour here in Australia but its the same thing. I should have written it in my other post, but the measurements are Australian too - so 1 cup is 250ml and a Tbsp is 20ml. It probably won’t make too much of a difference though.
I’d suggest lightening up that cheesy filling with some whipped cream and maybe a little bit of gelatin. That would keep the texture light enough, even when frozen.
Think cheesecake mousse.
To help the ‘hard as a rock’ factor, you could consider increasing the sugar content or adding a little alcohol or a liqueur… careful on the alcohol that you don’t add so much that it won’t freeze, but a little bit helps a lot.
It is so nice to know that others are human too. the other night I had to start a meringue recipe over three times, and the third time it was only supreme self control (and a dislike of cleaning) that kept me from throwing the bowl of hideous flat egg white stuff all over the kitchen in a little tantrum. :) I recovered by making biscotti, with no eggs at all. Take that egg whites!
At any rate, this is an adorable post, full of humanness and tasty ingredients. I’ve no super helpful suggestions, but if you have an ice-cream maker, you could probably set it in to churn the yogurt combo, making your own little soft serve action.
Oh, and there seems to be a coding error at the bottom of your avocado salad post. I thought you might like to know (I’m in Firefox, if that matters)
Jef, cheescake mousse…that’s brilliant!
Brilynn, that’s an interesting idea…booze could really amp up the flavor. Thanks,
erin, Woot…your ice-cream maker comment sparked an idea to make cheesecake ice cream and top it with berries.
The coding issue is ugly isn’t it.I ‘m using an ancient wordpress theme and apparently it’s incompatibile with the Wordpress 2.5. Everytime I try to fix it something else fracks up teribly…so I’m just working on a new theme instead.