Baking With Spirt: Tequila Sunshine Cheesecake

Have you ever seen Zoolander? Remember the bit where Hans and Zoolander try to break into the computer? That's me with hardware. Printers, hoovers, televisions... You name it, I struggle with it. Having grown up with computers (we got our first one when I was seven), software is easy for me to get to grips with but if there's an external issue I am rather challenged. Cue my laptop keyboard suddenly deciding that random keys should no longer work. With my software talent (I use this word loosely) I've ruled out any driver or virus issues, so now all that is left is the actual keyboard itself being the problem. Here my expertise ends, so for the time being I'm making do with the on-screen keyboard and using my phone for writing full on paragraphs (like here on the blog). As I write this, I am also trying to break my laptop from a cycle of blue screening on opening the desktop, so it might just be time for a new one...

I hope that these issues will magically resolve themselves, but if not 2016 could be the year of a new laptop.

Now that I have shared with you just how mechanically challenged I am, let's talk about this cheesecake. Ever heard of a Tequila Sunshine Cocktail? Neither have I. Basically I wanted to put orange and tequila in a cheesecake, and wanted a snappy name for it. A classic Tequila cocktail is, of course, the Tequila Sunrise, containing tequila, orange juice and grenadine. Take away the grenadine and I believe this makes sunshine.

This rich and tangy cheesecake definitely has an adult feel to it. Please don't serve it to children because, if you weren't sure, this does contain a lot of tequila. The base is made from Bourbon Biscuits. (Non-British readers: these biscuits don't actually contain whisky; they are chocolate biscuits sandwiched with a chocolate filling. If you're ever making a cheesecake that goes with chocolate, I highly recommend that you give them a try for your base. If you don't have any orange extract, to hand, the juice from an orange should also do the trick.

Best served at an adult soirée, or as a decadent dessert, this cheesecake is well worth a try!

Ingredients

• 200g Bourbon Biscuits
• 50g Butter
• 1 Sachet Gelatine
• 400g Philadelphia Cheese
• 200g Mascarpone Cheese
• 150g Caster Sugar
• 3-4 Drops Orange Extract
• 25-50mL Tequila

Recipe

• Crush the biscuits into crumbs and stir into the melted butter. (Or blend it all together in a food processor - no need to melt the butter.) Press the biscuit mixture into the base of a 10" springform tin that has been lined with baking parchment. Place to one side.
• Prepare the gelatine as per the manufacturer's instructions.
• In a mixing bowl, beat the Philadelphia and mascarpone cheeses together with the caster sugar.
• Stir in the orange extract and tequila to taste - if you like your tequila, you may need more than the recipe states to get the balance right.
• Stir in the gelatine and mix until smooth.
• Pour the mixture on top of the biscuit base.
• To get the orange design on top of the cheesecake I swirled some yellow/orange food colouring gel through the cheesecake mixture before setting it.
• Place the cheesecake in the fridge to set for at least 4 hours. Should be kept in the fridge until served.