I was perusing old issues of Chocolatier the other day…Wait, that
sounds pretty sad, doesn’t it?? Former editor, reliving halcyon days of dessert glory?…Ok,
let’s start again…At the risk of sounding
a bit pathetic, I was thumbing through old issues of Chocolatier the other day, and was somewhat startled by how great most
of those recipes
were, and how they still stand up as great desserts today.
Many talented people worked on that magazine over the years, including a steady
stream of interns, many of whom have gone on to do great things in and out of
the food world. One of them, Jules Rosenthal, went on to become a superstar
personal trainer, possibly motivated
by all the calories she ingested during
her time at the magazine. She’s a former caterer who is talented, funny, smart,
and, obviously, in great shape. While at Chocolatier,
Jules wrote an article on Coconut Cakes, developing some memorable cake
recipes, including an outstanding Coconut Cheesecake with a Chocolate
Crust.
It’s a rich cheesecake with a whipped cream topping and a chocolate wafer
crust. The topping is made by infusing sweetened coconut with heavy cream,
straining it, and then whipping it to soft peaks. This step makes this cake
extra-coconutty, but it would be equally delicious (and less rich) with plain
whipped cream on top.
One note on the baking: I baked this cheesecake in a
water bath, but instead of wrapping the springform pan in foil as I normally
do, I simply placed the 9 ½-inch springform pan into a 10-inch cake pan, and
then placed both pans in the water bath. That way the crust will not get soggy,
and the cake is still insulated from the direct heat of the oven. Thanks Jules,
for this wonderful recipe. And for all the guilt. Time to go work out, I guess… :(
