That’s right, fairy floss. The idea of spun sugar takes me back to childhood, not that I spent it eating fairy floss but it’s a little girl’s ideal treat. Soft and fluffy at first bite then melting on your tongue to produce this sugary, slightly crunchy sweet bliss. I am partial to sugar, and the sort that melts on your tongue is just perfect. Not to mention how adorable it looks in its cloud-like appearance.
Rose flavour however, was not something I was fond of as a kid. In fact, I have only recently started to appreciate the floral taste of rose. So when I got my mitts on rose flavoured fairy floss in a box of goodies courtesy of Little Box of Yum, I was intrigued. I eyed off that cute little tub for weeks, but I knew if I opened it and devoured it I’d later wish I had more to top a cake. So I made a cheesecake instead, then placed the delicate spun sugar on top.
I don’t usually dip my finger into cake mix, but this mixture had me ‘accidentally’ leaving behind remnants of white chocolate and mascarpone goodness just begging to be wiped up, and I don’t mean by a spatula. I think my reluctance to sample cake batter comes from my childhood. My Mum had this way of scraping every last bit of mix from the bowl ensuring not a single morsel was left, not a smidgen. I would marvel at her spatula scraping technique, it’s phenomenal, although as a child I wasn’t so much as impressed as I was disappointed. Licking cake batter remnants from a bowl as an eight year old is akin to eating fairy floss in the fun spectrum.
Initially I sampled the mixture to see if it needed sugar, which I didn’t think it would given the 1.5 blocks of white chocolate. And boy was the taste worth it. SO GOOD. I initially thought, given I am not fan of white chocolate, that this cheesecake would be one that I’d make, style, photograph, blog about, sample a tiny sliver for good measure, and then serve the rest up to my husband each night for dessert until he finished it. I think not. The ‘tiny sliver’ we talk about wound up being a slightly bigger, ahem, slice. The white chocolate tastes nothing like the white chocolate I know when combined with cream cheese, heavenly is the only way to describe it. Coupled with creamy smooth mascarpone and the slight tang of raspberry to then end with the buttery granita base that in my opinion, is the only way to make a cheesecake base, is surprisingly astonishing. I am in love. With a cake.
Ingedients (serves 8)
Base:
1 packet (250g) Granita biscuits, blend to crumbs
100g unsalted butter, melted
Filling:
300g premium white chocolate
200ml whipping cream
250g cream cheese (I use light Philadelphia)
250g mascarpone
200g raspberries (fresh or frozen)
Topping:
2 punnets fresh raspberries
Fairy Floss – I used rose flavoured Spun Fairy Floss
And just for the record, the fairy floss flavours are out of this world. First up on the flavour list is coconut. SAY WHAT? Coconut.
As you can imagine the fairy floss does melt under the raspberries, so if not serving immediately you will lose the white fluffy cloud effect of the floss. The texture once it melts doesn’t ruin the cake in any way, so you can still go ahead and decorate it with floss if you like even if not serving straight away.
Method:
Grease round 20cm springform cake tin. ** tip: turn removable base of tin upside down so the cheesecake base won’t stick into the groove that forms at the join.
Mix biscuit crumbs and butter well, press firmly into base of tin. By this stage I am already getting fidgety. The smell of melted butter mixed with biscuit crumbs is just divine, you know just how much I love butter.
Place tin into fridge to chill base while making the filling.
Melt chocolate in top bowl of a double-boiler over medium heat. Leave to cool slightly.
Whip cream to medium stiffness (mousse-like texture). Add cream cheese and mascarpone, combine well. Stir in melted chocolate and stir until nice and creamy and dippable. Sample here, I highly recommend it.
Pour half of the cream cheese mixture onto the cheesecake base. Scatter 200g raspberries on top of the cream cheese mixture, then pour the remaining mixture on top of raspberries.
Chill overnight or for at least 8 hours. Then top that baby with raspberries and fairy floss. If you want to omit the floss go ahead and pile it high with raspberries instead.
