Baked Chocolate Cheese Cake on Gluten Free Almond-and-Chocolate Base

When I saw this recipe on Indre's blog I knew immediately I had to try it out, the base alone sounded wonderful. Here in the UK, it's really hard to get the German "quark", if I'm lucky I can find the French fromage frais but mostly with 0 % fat and that means additives to give it its consistency. I was going to try ricotta but the local supermarket didn't have any in that day and I almost went for Greek yoghurt or crème fraîche when I spotted fromage frais with 0.2 % fat. I decided to make an exception and buy it. I don't object to the low fat content but the drawback is that thickening agents have to be added to make it thick and creamy. And I try to avoid all sorts of additives. Next time I'm going to use ricotta.

Update 27/06/14: Ricotta worked a treat! Will try a baked German cheesecake with ricotta next.

The other item I can't get here is chocolate custard powder so I researched this on the internet and made my own. I also reduced the amount and type of sugar, added a pinch of salt. The changes I made to the recipe are printed in italics.

As I expected, the base is fantastic – as is the topping – and I already have plans to use if for other cakes, the recipes for which I'll no doubt publish in this blog.

200 g ground almonds
200 g dark chocolate, min. 70% cocoa solids
1 pinch of salt
200 g butter
200 g sugar/150 g fine unrefined sugar
4 eggs
vanilla extract
1 sachet (15 g) baking powder

Topping:
1 sachet of chocolate custard/30 g custard powder mixed with 10 g cocoa/ home-made chocolate custard powder made of 10 g cocoa, 30 g cornflower and a little vanillin
250 g fromage frais or ricotta
100 ml milk
150 g sugar/120 g fine unrefined sugar
2 small or medium eggs

1. Melt the butter and chocolate over a low heat in a saucepan. Leave to cool
2. Beat the almonds, sugar, baking powder, vanilla extract and eggs together.
3. Mix in the chocolate butter.
4. Pour the mix into a greased spring tin/silicon mold (26-30 cm)
5. Bake for 45 min. at 180 °C/gas mark 4.
6. Mix the chocolate custard powder with the fromage frais/ricotta.
7. Add the milk, eggs and sugar and beat to a creamy consistency.
8. Spread over the base after the inital baking time of 45 minutes, then bake for another 35-45 minuts.

This cake will keep covered and stored in a cool place for 3-4 days.