Breandán came home from work one day and told me that he needed a ‘Super Cake’.
It was for a competition at his place of work where every Monday an employee would bring in a cake that they had made at home to be shared amongst the staff. Not only was it to be a pick-me-up on the most horrible day of the week, but it was a way for colleagues to discuss things of real importance, like taste.
Every cake received a score from each staff member and these figures were added up to produce a winner. At the end of 16 weeks of wonderful creativity, the cake produced by Belgian Smaak was crowned the ‘Super Cake’. It combined the creaminess of the famous liqueur from Ireland with the creaminess of Belgian chocolate. It was a Baileys and Belgian Chocolate Cheesecake.
The recipe is below – check out our video and have a go at making your own ‘Super Cake’!
STUFF YOU’LL NEED:
→ Butter: make it Irish and creamy. We used Kerrygold (100g / 3½oz)
→ Digestive Biscuits (crushed): McVities make a mean digestive (250g / 8¾oz)
→ Cream Cheese: a couple of tubs of Philadelphia (600g / 1lb 5oz)
→ Baileys: the finest Irish cream liqueur (50ml / 2fl oz – but use as much as takes your fancy!)
→ Icing Sugar: (100ml / 3½oz)
→ Double Cream (whipped): (300ml / 10½oz)
→ Belgian Chocolate (grated): We used ‘Côte d’Or’ but we can also recommend ‘Jacques’ if you can get your hands on it. (100g/3½oz)
BAILEYS AND BELGIAN CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE RECIPE:
1 Crush the digestive biscuits in a bowl – get your hands right in there. This bit is messy.
2 Melt the butter in a pan and then pour into the bowl of crushed digestive biscuits. Mix them around with a spoon until the biscuits have absorbed all the butter.
3 Press the buttery biscuit base into the bottom of a springform tin. Make sure that it is nice and tight and that it is as flat as you can make it.
4 Put the springform tin into the refrigerator and allow to set for an hour. In the meantime, get started on the filling….
5 Whip the cream cheese.
6 Beat the Baileys and icing sugar into the whipped cream cheese.
7 Now fold in the whipped cream.
8 Grate your Belgian chocolate and get it in there now. Make sure the mix is nice and smooth.
9 Take the springform tin out of the refrigerator and spoon your mix over the buttery biscuit base.
10 Get it back in the refrigerator and allow to set for a further two hours before serving with a mug of brown or a wee glass of Baileys.
