The Hummingbird Bakery is the bakery in London at the moment, specializing in American-style cakes and sweets. It's a brainchild of Tarek Malouf that opened in 2004, and the book - The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook - featuring their most popular cakes and pastries was published in 2009. It's a gorgeous book, full of inviting and appetizing recipes, though the only one I've made so far is this Raspberry Cheesecake Brownie. And I've made it three times during the last month or so - for K's mum's birthday (twice) and for our daughter's first birthday party as well. I've followed the recipe more or less - replacing the icing sugar with caster sugar, topping up the amount of cheesecake to suit our local 150 g packs of cream cheese, and baking it in a round cake tin instead. I might reduce the sugar content in the brownie layer next time, as the cake is rather sweet (though the slight acidity of the raspberry layer balances it all out nicely).
The interesting thing about this cake is that the cheesecake and brownie layers are cooked at once - and this can be made a day or even two days before serving. A great cake for making in advance, as all you have to do before serving is topping it with raspberry whipped cream.
Raspberry Cheesecake Brownie
(Vaarikatega šokolaadi-toorjuustukook)
Serves 12
Brownie layer:
200 g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
200 g unsalted butter, softened
250 g caster sugar
3 large eggs
110 g plain flour (200 ml)
Cheesecake layer:
450 g cream cheese, softened
150 g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
Raspberry topping:
200 ml whipping cream
100 g caster sugar
200 g raspberries
Butter a 26 cm springform tin, line the base with a sheet of parchment paper.
For the brownie layer:
Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl placed over a pan of simmering water.
Cream the butter and sugar, then whisk in the eggs one at a time. Sift and fold in the flour and finally fold in the slightly cooled melted chocolate.
Pour the chocolate mixture into the cake tin.
For the cheesecake layer:
cream the softened cream cheese with sugar and vanilla extract until combined, then whisk in the eggs one at a time.
Pour the cheesecake mixture carefully over the uncooked brownie mixture.
Bake in the middle of a pre-heated 170 C / 325 F oven for 30-40 minutes, until the cheesecake is firm to the touch and light golden around the edges. (The cheesecake layer will firm furthen when cooling).
Remove the cake from the oven and let cool for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.
Before serving whisk the cream and sugar until soft peaks form, then fold in the fresh or frozen (defrost and drain first!) raspberries. Spread the raspberry cream over the cheesecake and decorate with chocolate and extra raspberries.
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