The classic pairing of whipped cream cheese and crunchy biscuits is an easy oven-free dessert. The recipe experts at Trewithian Dairy suggest adding tart rhubarb fruit and swapping plain digestive for fiery ginger biscuits for anyone seeking a more delectable recipe.
Known as a “deliciously Cornish dairy”, Trewithian’s clotted cream is the star of the show in this dish. Sharing the recipe with Express.co.uk, the experts said: “This no-bake cheesecake is pure indulgence – rich, tangy, and made with the best Cornish dairy.” With a simple list of ingredients, the recipe is a must-try for anyone about to harvest homegrown forced rhubarb. However, it’s just as delicious as shop-bought rhubarb sticks.
Rhubarb and cream pair well because the cream’s richness and creaminess beautifully balance the rhubarb’s tartness. As for ginger, its spicy, warm notes are complementary against the sour fruit, creating a balanced and flavorful combination
Rhubarb cheesecake recipe
Ingredients
For the base:
200g gingernut biscuits, blitzed into a crumb
150g Trewithen salted butter, melted
Zest one lemon
For the filling:
500g cream cheese
200g Trewithen Dairy Cornish clotted cream
100g icing sugar
Juice of one lemon
For the topping:
200g rhubarb, sliced into batons
Two tbsp caster sugar
Two sprigs of rosemary
One knob of root or crystallised ginger
Four cardamom pods
Edible flowers and pistachios to garnish
How to make rhubarb cheesecake
Add the crushed biscuits to a large mixing bowl, along with the butter and lemon zest. Press this mixture into a cake tin base and chill it in the fridge for one hour to harden.
For the filling, add the cream cheese, Cornish clotted cream and icing sugar to a large bowl. Add the lemon juice and whip everything together until smooth. Then, layer on top of the chilled biscuit base using a spatula.
Rhubarb stalks can be eaten raw, but be warned, they’re very tart. The most common way to cook the fruit is to stew it with some sugar in a pan.
Add the rhubarb stalks to a pan with the sugar, cardamom, ginger, rosemary and a cupful of water.
Cook the sour fruit for five to six minutes, depending on the thickness of the sliced batons.
Aim for the rhubarb to start to soften with a little bite. Remove the batons from the pan to cool on a plate.
Allow the rhubarb to cool, and then arrange the fruit on top of the cheesecake in a neat pattern, you may need to chop some bits to fit the ends.
Finally, sprinkle with one to two tablespoons of chopped pistachios and garnish with edible flowers like gorse, primrose or rosemary.