1 Nov 15 (Sun) – Lemon Lime Bitters and Lemon Lime Cheesecake

After the mostly successful cheesecake making last week, I got somewhat excited and went to get myself a mini springform baking pan on Tuesday.  Then I started to brainstorm on what cheesecake to make since I still have half tub of the Philadelphia cream cheese left.  Searched my pantry couple of nights ago and found a bottle of angostura aromatic bitters which I bought during my UK trip last December.  Recalled that I bought it because I wanted to make lemon, lime, bitters (LLB) after having first tasted it while on a Great Ocean Road day trip during my Melbourne trip last November. Then an idea struck, how about a lemon, lime cheesecake? Searched the Internet for recipes on LLB and recipes on lemon, lime cheesecake that I can adapt and modify.

Found a website called HubPages that shows how to make LLB in different ways and decided to go for the easiest one which is the bar recipe.  Then I found another website called taste,com.au that shows how to make no-bake lemon lime cheesecake.  Read all the comments and found out that some people modify the recipe to make lemon cheesecake while some modify it to make lime cheesecake. Being ambitious, I decided to make a lime cheesecake and top it off with a thin layer of lemon-flavored jelly.  Since I have never made jelly using gelatin powder before, I had to search for recipe on that.  It was not easy and in the end, I had to modify from another recipe by Anncoo Journal.

Went to get the necessary ingredients during the week and was looking forward to Sunday.  The LLB tasted great!  And I finally got to know how LLB gets it tint of pinkish color.  The angostura aromatic bitters was actually brownish in color.  As for the cheesecake, I did not add enough sugar for the jelly so it was quite sour and sort of overpower the lime flavor in the cheesecake.  Also the jelly melts very fast so it got quite messy if the cheesecake was left outside the fridge for too long.

Lemon, Lime, Bitters (LLB) [Bar Recipe]

Ingredients:

Lemon-flavor 7-Up 15ml of lime juice

6-8 dashes angostura aromatic bitters

Method:

1.  Rim the inside of a tall drink glass with angostura aromatic bitters

2.  Add ice and swirl until the inside of the glass is evenly coated with aromatic bitters

3.  Top up the glass with lemon-flavor 7-Up

4.  Add 15ml of lime juice

5.  Garnish slices of lemon &/or lime

Lime Cheesecake with Lemon-flavor Jelly

Crust ingredients:

75g digestive biscuits (finely crushed)

28g butter (melted)

8g castor sugar 

Filling ingredients:

125g cream cheese (soften, room temperature)

45g icing sugar

75g silken tofu (mashed)

1 tsp gelatin powder

9ml lime juice

zest of 1 large lime (save some for garnishing)

Jelly ingredients:

20ml lukewarm water

150ml lemon juice

24g sugar

1.5 tsp gelatin powder

Method:

1.  Combine crust ingredients in mixing bowl

2.  Use back of a spoon to press the crumbs firmly to the base of the springform baking pan

3.  Chill in freezer for 30mins

4.  Warm up the lime juice in a bowl, then sprinkle the gelatin powder over it (do not stir)

5.  Let the mixture stand for 10mins for the gelatin powder to bloom

6.  Set the bowl over simmering water, stir with a spoon till the gelatin melts and let it cool

7.  Use an electric mixer to beat the cream cheese, tofu and icing sugar till smooth

8.  Add lime zest and gelatin mixture and beat till well combined

9.  Pour batter onto crust and sprinkle some leftover lime zest over it

10.  Put cake into the fridge to set

11.  Place warm water in a bowl, then sprinkle the gelatin powder over it (do not stir)

12.  Let the mixture stand for 10mins for the gelatin powder to bloom

13.  Set the bowl over simmering water, stir with a spoon till the gelatin melts and let it cool

14.  Place lemon juice and sugar in a pot, cook over medium heat till sugar dissolves

15.  Add gelatin mixture when juice boils, stir till they are well combine and let it cool to room temperature

16.  Remove cheesecake from fridge and carefully strain the jelly mixture over the top of the cake

17.  Put the cake with jelly top back to the fridge and refrigerate for 4-5 hours or overnight

Finally, I think I need to improve my skill on lining the springform baking pan.  I had big problem unmolding the cheesecake from the base and I think I will have to bring the whole cake with the base to office instead.  Hrm... or perhaps next time instead of using baking paper to line the base, I should try using foil to wrap the base.  Since the gelatin melts so fast, I decided to put the whole cake into the freezer so that it becomes frozen cheesecake!

---------------- Edited on 2 Nov 2015 ----------------

Brought the mini lemon lime cheesecake to office and put it in the fridge. Informed my usual group about it and at the same time warned them that it could taste rather sour. They ate the cake during tea-break and the overall comments were:

1.  Too sour for most
2.  Lemon taste overpowered lime taste
3.  Cake too soft
4.  Crust improved from last round

Hrm... will need more practice!