Anne's Kitchen What's cooking?!

Anne’s Kitchen is back!

After months of hibernation I’ve finally managed to move into my dream flat – with the nicest kitchen in town, tons and tons of natural light and a roof terrace! It doesn’t get better than this! So, I’m finally able to cook, bake and most importantly photograph again!

My first post after such a long time back is concentrating on a combination of my favourite things: rhubarb and cheesecake! Aren’t they both absolutely fantastic? The tangyness of pink rhubarb mixed with the indulgent creaminess of cheesecake is simply hard to beat.

This is actually a bit of a lighter cheesecake, not so heavy and dense as the American cheesecakes. It’s more like a continental European cheesecake, fluffy and light. The secret lies in beating eggwhites to snow and carefully incorporating that with the cream cheese, to create a far lighter cheese-mix. Try for yourselves and see which one you prefer, US or European cheesecake? I for myself can’t decide, I love them all!!!

As for how to serve it – best with a nice cup of coffee, and if you want some rhubarb compote. Lovely! ★

Rhubarb Cheesecake

Make one big tray (about 12 big slices)

For the dough:

270g flour
110g sugar
1 egg yolk
a pinch of salt
170g cold unsalted butter

For the topping:

650g rhubarb
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
500g cream cheese
4 egg yolks
1 tsp cornflour
170g sugar
1 vanilla bean (or 1 tsp vanilla bean paste / vanilla essence)
4 egg whites

Preheat the oven to 200° celsius (180° celsius if using a fan-oven).

For the dough: combine flour, sugar, egg yolk and salt in a bowl. Cut the cold butter into slices and add to the flour mix. Whisk on a high speed until the dough resembles fine breadcrumbs. This may take a while and I find it’s easiest if you use your hands at some point to rub the flour mix between both hands – that will get rid of the big lumps. Then use the electric whisk again til all the major big lumps are gone.

Line a square tin with baking paper (I used one of 23cmx32cm). Pour the flour mix into the tin, spread it evenly and press it all with your hands so that it forms an even dough.

Pre-bake the dough for 15 mins. Take it out of the oven and let it cool down.

Meanwhile: lower the oven temperature to 180° celsius (160° celsius if using a fan-oven).

Wash the rhubarb and cut into pieces of about 1 + 1/2 cm. Put into a bowl and mix with a tablespoon of sugar and cinnamon.

In a bowl mix the cream cheese with the egg yolks, corn flour, sugar and vanilla bean until smooth.

In a separate bowl: mount the egg whites to snow. Once it’s stiff, fold into the cream cheese mixture with a wooden spoon. Don’t mix it! Just fold it in gently until you’ve got a fluffy even mix.

Spread the rhubarb slices evenly on the dough base. Top with the fluffy cream cheese mixture. Even out the mixture and bake in the oven for about 45 mins. (Tip: if the cheesecake starts to brown on the top, cover it with a piece of baking paper to stop it from burning).

Let the cheesecake cool down before serving.