Mango Cheesecake (Unbaked)

MIL gave us some 'apple mangoes' yesterday, those beautiful mangoes the shape of peaches and size of large oranges. Apple mangoes are Hub's favorite because they are very juicy and sweet but I have not eaten any other mangoes that can compare to Luzon mangoes in terms of sweetness and, especially, flavor. I will forever love Luzon mangoes more than any other.

I was happily eating my mangoes when MIL called to say we are to join them for dinner because it was my BIL's birthday ("Supertanker, okay?" "Er...I guess if that's what you want," I replied, wishing she'd change her mind or I'll fall sick in 5 hours. She didn't and I didn't.)

I was in no mood to bake a cake since Vero's not back, but I wasn't about to eat that airy fake stuff from our local bakeries either. So off to the shops to get a swissroll (they only had mocha rolls) and some cream cheese (Philly cream cheese has gone from about RM8 to RM11/US$2.50 to 3.40 per 250g block!) In 3 hours the cake was ready, not bad at all. The best thing was, my other BIL, our Simon Cowell, rated this cake 99/100. That coming from him, I am so boosted that I'm sitting here at midnight typing out the recipe before I forget. Although I referred to Alex Goh's 'Fantastic Cheesecakes'--the guy has my utmost respect for giving recipes that really really work--I compromised by using whatever was in my fridge to make the cake because this is KK, and not all ingredients such as mango yogurt are readily available.

This is a cheesecake that doesn't need to be baked (the types that were popular before the baked ones pushed them off the shelf). You also don't need any eggs, so it really is a quickie cake. There's minimal utensils used too because you just add one ingredient after another. I don't generally like mousse because they taste so weird, like cream and sugar suspended in foam. This recipe however will give a mousse that's not too dense or foamy.

Mango Cheesecake (Unbaked)
250 g Philadelphia cream cheese, softened*
50g sugar (5 T)

*this will give a light cheesecake but you can add another 200g (increase the sugar proportionately too) for more cheese flavor n taste without increasing other ingredients

1. Whip this in your machine (use the butter paddle for a minute to break up the cheese, then switch to the balloon whisk to get a smooth cream) until light and fluffy.

200 ml mango puree (from cake ingredients shop)
150 ml heavy cream (or mango yogurt)
2. Mix about 170 ml mango puree (keep 3 T or 30 ml for glaze) and 150 ml heavy cream with a metal spoon until well-blended and fold into (1).

1 1/2 T gelatine powder
60 ml water
3. Mix powder and water in a small metal cup and set this over a pot of boiling water (double boil it) until the gelatine dissolves. Let it cool and mix it well into above mango mixture. Leave this mixture in the fridge while you do the next step. This will help set the mousse later.

150 ml heavy cream or whipping cream
4. Whip the cream until stiff and fold it into the mango mixture until well-blended. Finally, whisk the mango mixture and the gelatine syrup quickly into a mousse.

5. You can bake your own plain sponge or buy one and use it to line the bottom of a 22 cm/8 1/2" round springform pan (I had used a 25/10" pan and the cheesecake layer was too thin). The sponge need only be 1 cm thick. When you have done that, pour the mango mousse onto the sponge, level the top by tipping the pan and cover it with a cake board and let it set in the fridge. If, like me, you are in a hurry, put the cake into your icebox for an hour.

Other Ingredients:
mango slices for garnishing
2 t gelatine powder
2 T water
3 T (~30 ml) mango puree
toasted almond slivers

6. Slice some mangoes for garnishing. Make a glaze by mixing gelatine powder with 2 T water and double-boil it until gelatine dissolves. Add the mango puree and mix well. Pour glaze (keep 1 T for the sliced mangoes) onto the top of the set cake, decorate the cake with the mango slices and spoon retained mango glaze over them. Put cake back into fridge to chill.

7. Run a palette knife around the pan and remove the cake onto a cake board or serving plate. Press some toasted almond slivers around the side of the cake. Keep cake chilled until ready to serve. That's it.