Lately I have really felt like eating cheesecake. I had some cream cheese in the fridge, but I didn’t feel like making a fruit cheesecake. While looking in the pantry I saw a bottle of rose syrup that we bought from the Indian grocery store. We all love this syrup and we drink it diluted in cold water as a refreshing drink or I use it to make sweets (more about this in the future posts). So the idea of a rose cheesecake came to me by chance. I know cheesecake is not an Indian sweet and the combination of rose and cream cheese may appear strange… but I can assure you that the result is delicious! I have invented this recipe from scratch and it came out really well, so I thought it would be a good recipe to share on the blog. Wouldn’t it be perfect to make for Mother’s Day this coming Sunday?
Ingredients: (makes a 16 cm cake)
1 ¼ cup biscuit crumbs (I have used scotch fingers)
80 gms butter, melted
250 gms cream cheese at room temperature
125 ml lightly whipped cream
1/2 cup sugar
10 tbsp rose syrup
2 sheets (4 gms) of gelatin (colla di pesce) for the cake and 1 sheet (2 gms) for the topping, or 2 tsp of gelatin dissolved in 2 tbsp boiling water for the cheesecake and 1 tsp for the topping
Mix the biscuit crumbs with the melted butter in a bowl. The quantity indicated will make a thick base. If you prefer it thinner, make 3/4 of this dose (1 cup biscuit crumbs and 60 gms of melted butter).
Put some baking paper at the bottom of a springform pan, by unclipping it, putting the paper on the base and re-clipping the pan. Trim the remaining paper.
Press the crumbs and butter mix into the pan and chill it.
In the meantime, beat the cream cheese and sugar together using an electric mixer. When it is smooth, add 4 tbsp of rose syrup and 2 sheets of gelatin dissolved in water (follow the instructions of the gelatin you are using).
Add the lightly whipped cream into the cheese mixture and incorporate it gently.
Pour the rose cheese mixture onto the prepared base, flatten it by shaking it and tapping it gently on the bench top and refrigerate the cake for 1 hour.
Prepare the rose topping by dissolving the remaining gelatin in 6 tbsp of hot rose syrup (follow the instructions of the gelatin you are using, just substitute water with rose syrup). Pour the rose gelatin on top of the refrigerated cheesecake, spread it uniformly (move and tilt the cake to spread the gelatin evenly) and put the cake back in the fridge for at least 2 more hours (better overnight).
Before serving, open the springform pan very carefully. To make sure that the cheesecake doesn’t stick to the sides of the pan, pass a hot wet towel all around the sides of the pan and use a straight cake spatula or a knife to loosen the cream from the pan.
To decorate it I have made a fondant rose and added some mint leaves to it. You can find step by step instructions on How to make a rose with fondant in the Techniques page of this site.
Serve the cheesecake as is, or with some whipped cream on the side.
I really love rose flavour but have never used it yet! Looks and sounds amazing 🙂
your cheese cake is simply beautiful! i love how you decorated it with a simple pink rose!
i didn’t know of rose syrup but i will look for that next time i am shopping…it looks much better than regular corn syrup…
MMM… I really love this cake, and I almost can smell rose scent. My mother won’t appreciate, instead.. she doesn’t love desserts very much! 🙂
Manu, this is sheer perfection. I adore rose and the floral flavours going creamy like this in a cheesecake seem so appropriate for Mothers’ Day. The fondant rose just finishes it off beautifully. Have a wonderful weekend!
Your step-by-step approach seems so comforting. this cheese cake is beautiful! i like u decorated it with a rose. Definitely a must try! looks so appealing!
Oh my goodness Manu, this is just perfection..how creative and amazing looking, and also delicious!
I wish you the best Mother’s Day!!! Enjoy!
WOW! Absolutely stunning and what a great flavor combo!
Wow, yummy looking cheese cake just in time for Mother’s day! since my oven give off uneven heat I won’t be baking any time soon! This is my kind of dessert! Please send three cheese cakes my way, hahaha. . . . . seriously!
What a pretty looking cheesecake! I just can’t get enough of the beautiful creamy pink colour :)!
Stunning Mum’s Day cake! Very clever use of rose syrup 🙂 I imagine its just brilliant! Thanks for sharing
Manu, what a gorgeous cake. There is something ultra luxurious about using flowers in food and my mouth is watering at the thoughts of the lovely rose flavoured cheese filling. I love the vibrant colour of the gel topping against the more delicate pink of the filling – wow!
Manu, you just amaze me! What a stunning cheesecake…and those roses are gorgeous! Lovely!
Wow that looks beautiful! I especially love the last photo. I’ve never used rose syrup before but it looks delicious! I am passing along several awards to you that you can find here: http://theculturaldish.blogspot.com/2011/05/easy-lemon-drop-cookies.html
Happy Mother’s Day!
Absolutely amazing!!
That is really pretty. I haven’t had anything with rose flavor for a long time. I used to love sugar coated rose petals as a child.
Oh, Manu, this is beautiful! (I … like your daughter, LOVE pink!) 😀 And like you, I love cheesecake. I can just imagine how fragrant this is! 😀
That’s absolutely beautiful. I love the unlikely combination. Really innovative and interesting. Great post!
Wow… Manu… this is beautiful. period. I don’t bake, but your step-by-step pictures always encourage me to just give it a try… really good to have those pictures especially if you are not baker. By reading words, I just don’t know what I’m doing is okay (even common sense, as I don’t have common sense in baking). Great beautiful post. I love it!
What a stunning cheesecake…the combination of rose and cream cheese actually sounds really good. I hope you had a lovely Mother’s Day.
It is a wonderful receipe! Last chritmas I bought everything I needed to make a fondant and I was looking for several receipes and made my first try, but I recognise every explanation I found was not too clear and easy as that one you give for the rose fondant.
Thanks for such a “flowery” receipe!
Looks gorgeous and simple!
Wonderful…..