The Shangri-La's chefs celebrated the arrival of the royal baby by creating the Royal High Tea, full of recipes taken from the recipe books of their mothers. Head Pastry Chef Benoit's offering? A stunning blueberry cheesecake.
Recipes handed down through generations are a fine thing. Tried and tested, tasted time and time again, they’re a rare treasure that often aren’t seen except in dusty hand-written recipe book, brought out for special occasions then tucked safely back to secrecy.
Luckily, Benoit Defait of the Shard’s TĪNG Lounge and Restaurant chose to share his mother’s delicious recipe for blueberry cheesecake, so that even those who cannot attend the Royal High Tea have the chance to taste the delicious summer pudding.
Ingredients
For the sweet paste:
180g butter
115g icing sugar
36g almond powder
1g salt
300g flour
1 egg
For the cheesecake:
600g cream cheese
300g yoghurt
60g lemon juice
75g caster sugar
0.5 agar-agar
10g water
For the blueberry filling:
300g blueberry puree
25g sugar
1 vanilla pod
0.5g corn starch
For the blueberry glaze:
300g sugar
540g cream
3-4g agar-agar
600g white chocolate
360g mirror glaze
The Royal High Tea at the Shard.
Method
In a bowl, cream the butter and sugar with a paddle. Afterwards add the egg, flour, almond powder and salt. Mix all the ingredients.
Roll the pastry in cling film and allow to rest in the fridge for 2 – 3 hours. Roll it out and cut into 7 cm discs. Bake at 160C for 10 minutes until golden.
To make the cheesecake filling, first mix the cream cheese with the yoghurt. Boil the lemon juice with the agar- agar and gradually whisk in the mixture with the cream until smooth and thick.
Spoon the cheesecake mixture into the moulds. Chill for 5 hours or overnight if possible.
Cook the blueberry puree in a pan at 60C and after add the corn starch and sugar. Boil the mix until it thickens, let it cool and store it in the fridge.
To make the glaze, boil the cream in a pan, add the sugar and mix with white chocolate. Add the agar-agar and mirror glaze to the melted mix. Leave to cool, cover and chill until ready to serve.
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