Forced Rhubarb Recipe
It's in season this month, so try one of our recipes for forced rhubarb.
Cheesecake with forced rhubarb recipe
The richest, most indulgent of all recipes for forced rhubarb, this dessert will serve about 12.
Cheesecake topping:
800g cream cheese
300g soured cream
175g caster sugar
3 tablespoons cornflour
3 eggs
2 egg yolks
Zest of 1 orange
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Spiced biscuit base:
200g plain flour
100g soft light brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground ginger
Half a teaspoon ground cinnamon
100g butter
5 tablespoons golden syrup
3 tablespoons black treacle
Poached rhubarb:
140g soft light brown sugar
Juice of 1 orange
50g jarred stem ginger and 50ml of the syrup
400g forced rhubarb, roughly chopped
Preheat the oven to 200C. Line a 23cm springform tin at the bottom and sides. Make the biscuit base by combining the flour, sugar, ginger and cinnamon in a large bowl. Melt the butter, golden syrup and black treacle together in a saucepan. As soon as it reaches boiling point, pour over the dry mixture and mix with a wooden spoon to bring together in a smooth dough. Press into the base of your cake tin and bake for about 10 minutes or until golden brown on top. Set aside to cool.
Meanwhile poach the rhubarb by adding the sugar, orange juice, syrup and sliced ginger pieces to a saucepan and heating gently until the sugar has dissolved completely. Add the rhubarb, put a lid on and cook very, very gently for about six minutes or until the rhubarb has softened a little. Remove the lumps of rhubarb and ginger from the pan with a slotted spoon then turn the heat up and cook the syrup mixture for a few minutes until it reduces and thickens. Add the fruit and some of the syrup to a separate bowl and mash up a little, then allow to cool. Reserve the rest of the syrup.
In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, soured cream, sugar and cornflour. Using a whisk, mix in the eggs, egg yolks, orange zest and vanilla extract. Pour the mixture into the cake tin over the biscuit base. Add several dollops of the poached rhubarb and use a spoon to create a ripple effect.
Bake in the oven for 10 minutes then reduce the heat to 120C and cook for another 50 minutes. Turn the heat off and leave the cake in the warm oven for an hour, then open the door and leave for another hour. Then remove and allow to cool completely before chilling overnight. Serve with some of the reserved rhubarb syrup.
