Cardamom
Chocolate mango cheesecake cups
- Serves 6-8
Author Notes
I had been trying for a while to make a no-bake mango cheesecake, without using any gelatin or agar agar. I used Nigella’s trusty recipe for no bake cheesecake as inspiration, but no matter how much I tweaked the recipe, it never became stable enough to be sliced. The mango mixture tasted somewhere between a mousse and a cheesecake and while I loved the taste, I didn’t want to serve it without a crust, and the mango pulp made it way too liquid-y for the cake to stand up.
It wasn’t until I remembered seeing these chocolate cups made on TV, years and years ago, that I realized that I could serve the mango mixture in them. They are so much fun to make ( I am totally going to make them with my toddler once she is a little older) and even if they turn out a little lopsided (as some of mine did), they are still delicious! —Madhuja
Ingredients
- Mango cheesecake
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1 cup of pureed mango pulp (from 3 ripe Ataulfo mangos)
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juice of ½ lime
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¼ tsp of freshly ground green cardamom
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8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
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1 cup cold heavy cream
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1 ¼ cup of powdered sugar, divided
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pinch of salt
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Chopped pistachios, for garnish
- Chocolate cups
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8 oz good quality bitter sweet chocolate, roughly chopped up
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Special equipment – balloons!!
Directions
- Mango cheesecake
- In the bowl of a stand mixer whip 1 cup of heavy cream and 1 cup of powdered sugar until stiff peaks form. Gently transfer whipped cream to a separate bowl.
- Using the same bowl of the stand mixer, whip the cream cheese and ¼ cup of powdered sugar until very, very smooth. You may have to scrape down the sides a couple of times.
- Add the mango puree, lime juice, ground cardamom and salt and whip until everything is smoothly blended. Again, scrape down the sides a couple of times to make sure there are absolutely no lumps.
- Gently fold in the whipped cream to the mango and cream cheese mixture. I did this in several batches to ensure that I did not lose any volume. It is okay if there are a few white streaks in the mixture – just don’t over mix it! Refrigerate it overnight.
- Chocolate cups
- Blow up 6-8 small balloons. Make sure the bottom of the balloons are rounded and taut – this is going to help in making the cups evenly shaped. My chocolate cups were about 3"-4" in diameter and a couple of inches in height.
- In a microwave safe bowl (use something that is small and deep - I used a small cereal bowl), melt about 6 oz of the chocolate in the microwave. This is going to take about 60 seconds or so, depending on how powerful your microwave is. Make sure you stir the mixture every 30 seconds or so.
- Once the 6 oz of chocolate is almost melted, add the rest 2 oz of chocolate and stir vigorously until the mixture is all melted and very, very smooth. Keep stirring until the chocolate has cooled down a bit, about 4-5 minutes.
- Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat. Put 6 little dollops of the melted chocolate, evenly spaced out on the mat, to act as “anchors” for the balloons. Gently dip the bottom of the balloon in the melted chocolate. Swirl the bottom of the balloon around a few times in the chocolate to make sure that it is evenly coated and that the sides are high enough to hold the cream cheese mixture. Gently place it on one of the chocolate dollops and lightly press on it to hold it in place. Repeat with the rest. Refrigerate until the chocolate has firmed up. Now comes the fun part – pop the balloons and very, very gently peel it off! Your chocolate cups are ready!
- When you are ready to assemble, gently scoop the mango cream cheese mixture into the chocolate cup and garnish with chopped pistachios. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Enjoy!
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