new york cheezecake, and a barbecue

Whilst the weather is still sometimes okay, and not always freezing cold, Em thought it would be fun to have a barbecue. So Saturday afternoon, before heading out to Reservoir for Roller Derby, we ventured around to Em's place for a barbecue.

Because I love barbecues and picnics, as always I dedicated myself to awesomeness. I'm super excited about my cheezecake, it looks like this:



IT LOOKS DELICIOUS. OH YEAH

I got the recipe from Carla, who adapted the recipe from Smitten Kitten.

I made a handful of tweaks, though the recipe remains largely unchanged, so for my reference (and yours!) you can find it at the end of this post.

I also made some sushi (gluten-free), and yet another batch of the greatest vegan sausage rolls ever.



I didn't take too many other photos. Toby and Mario spent a lot of time hanging around the barbecue (I OFFERED, and was DENIED), barbecuing things. These things included a large variety of vegetables, some eggplant, and three types of awesomely marinated tofu.



Em marinated some tofu pieces in tamari, and some other tofu pieces in soy sauce. Because these were so small, they became quite fried and stiff on the outside, and sort of gooey and soft on the inside. They were delicious! Equally delicious was Toby's tofu, marinated in some sort of barbecue sauce, the recipe for which I hope he will share shortly! *hint hint*



Not pictured: the salad that Brunswick Jo brought (it was sort of gado gado inspired, with lots of veggies and dried rice noodles), and the sangria that Jo (YOU SEE WHY THERE IS A DISTINCTION?) made.

We sadly didn't have time for sweets, as we had to dash for roller derby, so after quickly stuffing our faces with cheezecake we headed off, and at roller derby we had a little sweet food picnic! Kristy had made peanut butter truffles, and Em made chocolate truffles (using leda tim tam things) and lime and coconut cupcakes (all of these desserts were gluten free).

I love barbecues. And picnics.

New York Cheezecake
modified from Carla



It should be thicker than this! Mine is only so thin because my springform pan broke, and I had to use my cheesecake tray. Oh the hardship! So this is the method for if you only have a thin cheesecake tray.

ingredients
three quarters of a pack on Nice Arnotts biscuits
5 tablespoons of melted Nuttelex
half a cup of sugar
dash or two of salt

2 packages of vegan cream cheese (this is about 500 grams)
1 heaped cup of castor sugar
1 tablespoon plain flour
zest of half a lemon (i would actually up this to three quarters of a lemon or something)
3 eggs worth of egg replacer (Orgran)
dash of vanilla essence

1 can mixed berries
1 tablespoon lemon juice
quarter of a cup of sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
approx. one third of a cup of water

method
To make the crust: mash up the biscuits (I used mortar and pestle), mix together with nuttelex, sugar and salt. Pat into the greased pan, all the way along base and all up the sides, and set aside.

To make the filling: Preheat oven to somewhere around 280C. My oven only goes to 250C but can then do fan forced, so that's what I turned it up to. Beat together cream cheese, sugar, flour, lemon zest, egg replacer and vanilla essence. Pour in to pan, and shake around to make smooth if necessary. Drop pan carefully onto counter from a height of five cm or so if you have bubbles (this helps to get rid of them).

Put that cheezecake in the oven. You may want to have a drip tray in your oven, everyone else who made this recipe reported drips but I had none. Bake for between eight and twelve minutes, until the top starts to brown a little, and also puffs up just a little. Reduce the heat to about 95C, and bake for another 45 minutes at this reduced temperature. By this time the cake will be pretty firm. Set aside and cool. Refrigerate and let cool completely.

To make the berry topping: bring all remaining ingredients (berries, lemon juice, sugar, cornstarch, water) to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and stir until it reduces. Leave this to cool completely, then pour it over the cheezecake.

You can leave it to sit for ages, it will still look and taste awesome! Or you can eat it straight away. Your delicious choice!