For every guest who’s fallen for the chocolate chip parfait, there’s another who swears by our vanilla cheesecake with strawberry consommé, lemon curd and prosecco jelly. We had a chat with chef Paul Cooper about what inspired this dessert.
“The idea behind the cheesecake is to transform something very humble and adored by many into something that can be served in a more upmarket environment,” says Chef.
“I wanted to show that just because it is a cheesecake, that doesn’t mean that it can’t be special. I’ve taken the idea of strawberries and cream and applied it to the cheesecake idea, and enhanced that by serving the strawberries in many styles,” explains chef – in fact there are three styles – the strawberry and yoghurt sorbet, strawberry consomme, and the strawberries themselves.
“Cheesecake can often be very rich, so the lemon curd is there to cut that down a bit, and provide a bit more complexity in the flavours. A nice little anise kick comes from the baby basil.” Do you agree? Really only one way to find out…