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The Best Antidote to Spice, Honey Cheesecake

Soph

Prep: 1 hour Freeze: 3 hours minimum

My work was having a chili cook off and I looked up desserts that pair best with the spice and the heat. Facts for you: honey, lemon, dairy, and bread are all great for that. That’s when I remembered this recipe submitted to me last December to test my limits. A friend wanted to see if I could do this, so I found the perfect opportunity. This cake is a no bake cheesecake that needs time to freeze and set and uses something crazy but works. This was amazing and a huge hit. I doubled the recipe since the original was really small (5 in pan) so that’s the amount’s I’ll be using though my 9 inch pan was just almost too big for the doubled amounts. No matter the size, make sure it’s spring form or has removable sides!

Ingredients

Honey Jello

  • 1/2 cup warm water

  • 2 2/3 tbls honey

  • 2 g geletin sheet/cube/powder non flavored

  • Small molds, I used Madeline ones and it made 9

Crust

  • 4 1/2 tbls butter melted

  • 1/2 cup graham cracker crust (maybe more depending on your circle pan size. I used quite a bit more, though not more butter for my 9 in pan)

Cheesecake

  • 2 egg yolks

  • 3 tbls water

  • 4 1/2 tbls sugar

  • 2 2/3 tbls honey

  • 1 1/3 cup mascarpone cheese (Italian cream cheese, creamier and amazing)

  • 6 g geletin sheet/cube/powder non flavored

  • 1 tbls lemon juice

  • 1 cup whipped cream

  • Bubble wrap

  • Yellow food coloring

Prep

Honey Jello

  1. Add the honey to the warm water and mix well

  2. Soak the geletin in cold water for 10 minutes

  3. Drain and add to the honey and water mixture and mix well

  4. Pour into molds

  5. Freeze 2 hours

Crust

  1. Add the graham cracker crust to the melted butter and mix until it can hold it’s shape

  2. Add to your pan and press down to form a flat crust on the bottom that covers the entire space

  3. Set in the fridge until you need it so it’ll set

Cheesecake

  1. Take the bubble wrap and lay the pan you’re doing to use upside down on it

  2. Draw a circle around the pan to get a size outline

  3. Cut out the circle but cut into the inside to make it just smaller to it can lay flat inside

  4. Set aside

  5. Set up a double broiler using a pot of boiling water and a safe bowl to add on top

  6. Add the geletin to cold water to soak for 10 minutes while doing the next couple steps

  7. Add the egg yolks, water, sugar, and honey and mix until the sugar dissolves. Keep a close eye, you don’t want scrambled eggs. Remove from heat before adding items if not all ready and while adding more things

  8. Add the cheese and mix until smooth and mixed in with no lumps, still keep an eye on no scrambled eggs, never stop stirring

  9. Drain the geletin and add to the mixture and keep stirring

  10. Remove from heat

  11. Add the whipped cream to another bowl and let it sit and melt a bit

  12. Add the lemon juice to the egg, cheese and others bowl and stir it in

  13. Add the whipped cream to the mixture (don’t worry if it’s not melted, it honestly didn’t matter)

  14. This is where I switched to a hand mixer on low speeds to make the mixture more thick and less straight liquid. I didn’t go as far as we did for sponge cakes where it kept it’s shape but you can. It’s just not required

  15. Pull our the crust from the fridge

  16. Pour a small amount of the batter to coat the bottom

  17. Grab the honey jello (hopefully frozen by now) and add to the batter in a circle around the cake. Do whatever pattern you want, but ideally so most slices will cut through it

  18. Pour enough batter to cover and hide the jelly and make sure it’s flat on top but leave some batter behind

  19. Add the yellow food coloring to the remaining batter and mix thoroughly

  20. Pour this on top and make sure it’s flat and covers the cake

  21. Take the bubble wrap and with the bubbles down lay it flat on top and press slightly until you see the batter fill in the spaces between bubbles

  22. Add to freezer for at least 3 hours

  23. Pull cake out after it has set and gently (it honestly was super easy) remove the bubble wrap

  24. Remove the sides of the pan to free the cake

  25. Pour more honey on top as desired to ‘ice’ the cake

Afterthoughts

This tasted so amazing. It was a refreshing and soothing taste that helped rejuvenate after the spicy chili we were eating. Even on it’s own it was a perfect dessert that was cool, sweet (not overpoweringly though), and not what you expected but so good. This was reminiscent of ice cream cake and did not have that overpowering cream taste from normal cheesecake. This is a winner for anyone. The bubble wrap pattern makes for an easy but show stopping look.