By Anna Polyviou
At my very first cooking demo I was going to make a cheesecake push pop, but I needed it to be more exciting. I added a fairy floss (candy floss) machine and had my personal DJ play 'Push It' by Salt-N-Pepa while I was doing my demo. It was a HUGE hit. That is how I started having a DJ for my cooking demos: they're not your average demo, a little more like a concert.
MAKES 15 PUSH POPS
CHEESECAKE MIXTURE
- 600g cream cheese
- 180g caster sugar
- 2 eggs
- 20g white chocolate, melted
- ½ vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
STRAWBERRY JELLY (gelatine dessert)
- 250g strawberries, hulled
- 55g caster (superfine) sugar
- 2 sheets titanium-strength gelatine, softened in cold water
TO ASSEMBLE
- 300g digestive biscuits (plain sweet cookies), blitzed in a food processor
- 250g strawberries, hulled and quartered
- 150g raspberries, halved
- 220g blackberries, halved
- 150g blueberries, halved
- 1 packet ready-made fairy floss (candy floss)
Preheat the oven to 165°C. Grease and line an 18cm (7 inch) square or round cake tin.
In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Scrape down the side of the bowl, then add the sugar and beat well combined.
With the mixer on slow speed, add the eggs one at a time, beating until well combined. Add the melted chocolate and the vanilla seeds.
Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin, making sure it is smooth and flat.
Bake for 30 minutes until almost firm: check whether it is cooked by tapping the side of the tin; if it wobbles too much, return it to the oven for a further 5 minutes. Set aside to cool in the tin until needed for assembly.
To make the jelly, toss the strawberries in the sugar, put them in a bowl and set aside overnight so the juices come out of the strawberries. Strain the strawberries and juice, but do not press the strawberries through the sieve.
In a small saucepan, bring 200ml of the strawberry juice and 50ml of water to the boil, then squeeze excess liquid out of the softened gelatine and stir the gelatine through the juice until completely dissolved. Strain and cool before use.
Pour 1 tablespoon of jelly mixture into each push pop mould and put them in the refrigerator to set. Make sure the moulds are upright.
When the jelly has set, cut the baked cheesecake into chunks and put it in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat the cheesecake on medium to high speed until completely smooth.
Transfer the cheesecake to a piping bag fitted with a size 12 nozzle. Pipe the cheesecake into each push pop mould on top of the jelly until halfway up the side, followed by a spoonful of biscuit crumbs.
Top each push pop with mixed berries and a small amount of fairy floss.
3SOME TWIST
Freeze the consommé and thaw it out to make the jelly — drink the leftovers with Champagne. The cheesecake can be frozen. For a gluten-free dessert, leave out the biscuits. It’s okay to use strawberry jelly from a packet instead of making your own.
