It Takes Two To Tangelo Cheesecake!

It's tangelo season Dear Reader! Boost your Vitamin C in the most delicious way with this creamy, syrupy tangelo cheesecake! With an Oreo base and a creamy, smooth filling topped with zesty, candied tangelos this cheesecake is the perfect tart, sweet and creamy treat! And this is a pushy recipe Dear Reader!

I was given these tangelos by my lovely friend Valentina. She has a huge tree in her backyard that was just developing its first tangelos. If you're unfamiliar with them, they are a cross between an tangerine or mandarin and a grapefruit so they have a lovely sweet tartness. "Take some," she said giving me a bag and I picked some fruit to take home with me.

I was going to make a tangelo marmalade because Mr NQN loves marmalade and we had just run out of home made marmalade but I wanted to make a dessert out of it because I wanted to eat cake. One of my favourite things with citrus is to bake or pair it with something creamy. Enter this cheesecake.

One afternoon I baked it, again reminded of how easy cheesecakes are to make and how they only require time and foresight as you do need to make them a day ahead so that they cool and set. In it went into the fridge to cool and the next morning I started on the decoration and photography.

I'm not at my best early in the morning. In fact, I'm at my worst then. I didn't use a clip springform, I used a push springform and as I lifted the cheesecake out of the tin with an almighty push, the cake went flying high into the air!

It bounced off my hands, onto my elbow and was an inch from being splat on the floor before it somehow (and honestly I have no idea how) landed on the palm of my hand. I thanked my lucky stars because when I was a little kid I made a cheesecake and dropped it on the floor and it still haunts me.

So if you look closely, the cheesecake is a little "rustic" looking. I tried squashing it back in place gently but it never quite recovered fully. But I promise this cheesecake is worth making because it is so utterly delicious. The creaminess of the cake is a perfect match for the zesty tangelos. I'd do it all over again (but use a clip springform tin)! And when I gave some to Nina she said, "Holy sh%t those cake is good! It’s sooooooo gooooood and I’m basically a cake expert."

So tell me Dear Reader, have you ever dropped a cake? Do you like tangelos? What would you suggest making with the remaining tangelos? And are you a cake expert?

Tangelo Cheesecake

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Cooking time: 1:5 hours (concurrent)

• 137g/5ozs. sleeve Oreos
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 55g/2ozs. butter, melted
• Pinch salt
• 500g/1.1lbs cream cheese (room temperature)
• 300ml/10.6flozs. cream (room temperature)
• 300g/10.6ozs. sour cream (room temperature)
• 1/2 cup caster or superfine sugar
• 1/4 cup of tangelo syrup (below)
• Finely grated zest of 2 tangelos
• 3 tablespoons custard powder
• 4 eggs, at room temperature, whisked

Tangelos in syrup

• 1.5 cups white sugar
• 1 cup water
• 3 tangelos, thinly sliced

Step 1 - First make the tangelos in syrup as you'll be using some of the syrup in the cheesecake itself. Dissolve the sugar in water and then add the tangelo slices. Bring to a boil and then simmer with the lid on for 15 minutes. Remove the lid and then keep simmering until the tangelo slices turn candied and glistening.

Step 2 - Preheat oven to 160C/320F and line a 20cm/8inch springform tin on the base and sides. Process the Oreos (filling and all) and cocoa until they resemble very fine crumbs. Add the butter and salt and mix. Press into the base of the tin and bake for 15 minutes. Set aside.

Step 3 - Reduce oven temperature to 140C/284F. In a large food processor, blend the cream cheese, cream, sour cream, sugar, tangelo syrup, tangelo zest and custard powder until smooth. Add eggs in and pulse until just combined (do not overmix). Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 1.5 hours (it doesn't need a water bath). Turn the oven off and allow the cake to cool in the oven. Then cool in the fridge for at least 8 hours or overnight. When ready to serve, decorate with sliced tangelos.