Norfolk celebrity chef Polly Guy shares Valentine's recipe

Chocolate cheesecake

Ingredients

Ganache

130 ml milk chocolate

130 ml double cream

150 g cream cheese

150 g mascarpone

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

260 ml double cream

1 dsp coco powder

3 dsp icing sugar

Dark chocolate digestive biscuits Silicon round baking mould

Method

Make the ganache by pouring the double cream into a heat proof bowl with the chopped milk chocolate, microwave in short bursts till melted, stirring in between.

Tip - it’s much easier to incorporate your chocolate this way, then pouring chocolate directly into cold mixture, as the chocolate could seize up making it grainy.

Set a side to cool. Next whisk together the cream cheese, mascarpone, vanilla bean paste, icing sugar by hand till the mixture is smooth.

Next pour in your chocolate ganache stir through, then pour the double cream and coco powder in.

Whisk up till everything has combined and is smooth, don’t over mix as your mixture might become too firm. Soft peaks is ideal.

Spoon into a piping bag and pipe the mixture into the moulds, level the tops off using a palette knife, then gently push a chocolate digestive biscuit, chocolate side down onto the moulds, place cling film over the cheesecake and place in the freezer (six hours or over night).

Mirror glaze

Ingredients

8.5g gelatine leaf / powder

Water for blooming it

130g glucose

130g caster sugar

65g water

130g finely chopped white chocolate

85g condensed milk , food colouring

Method

Make sure all your ingredients are measured out before you start.

Add your gelatine in cold water to soften it.

Place the glucose, sugar, water into a pan and gently bring it to 103C using a thermometer to tell you when it’s a temperature.

Turn off the heat and add your white chocolate, stir through it will take some help as white chocolate needs more attention than milk chocolate! Next add the condensed milk and stir then squeeze out the water from the gelatine and add this.

Give it all a good mix through but don’t create any air bubbles.

Add your chosen colour. Pass the glaze through a sieve making sure there are no lumps or bits. Pour into a jug and let it cool slightly.

Turn out your frozen cheesecake from the moulds, put each cheesecake on to a wire rack and place a tray underneath to catch all the drips.

Pour the glaze over the frozen cheesecakes making sure you cover all the cheesecake.

Leave it to set for five minutes then you can place in the fridge to defrost will take one hour-ish.

To plate up place a mirror glazed cheesecake on a plate then add some crushed biscuits if you like around the base of the cheesecake then slice the millionaires shortbread and place next to the garnish with raspberries, passion fruit curd/chocolate stick dusted with edible gold powder, macarons, meringue kisses would also work well and enjoy this simple, chefy yet elegant, delicious dessert.

Oven 150 fan/170C

Millionaire short bread

Ingredients

200g plain flour/sieved 50g caster sugar

125g unsalted butter, cubed

Caramel filling

75g Golden syrup

25 g caster sugar

120 g unsalted butter

1 x Tin (397) condense milk 300 g milk chocolate

Method

Shortbread

Place all the ingredients into a large bowl and rub the butter into the ingredients using your fingers tips to create crumb like texture , then you can add any flavours you like .

Clump the mixture together and push down into a pre lined baking tray , prick the base all over using a fork and into the middle shelf of the oven, when it is lightly golden take it out to cool down .

Next make the caramel filling by placing all the ingredients into a deep pan, on low heat stir together for 10-15 stirring all the time so it doesn’t catch on the bottom of the pan, should be a lovely golden colour and thick.

Pour onto the shortbread base and chill.

Next put 200g milk chocolate into a heat proof bowl and microwave in short bursts till chocolate has melted.

Then place the remaining 100g in. This is a quick way of tempering your chocolate.

Pour over the shortbread caramel base and smooth over using a spoon/spatula, put back into the fridge to set up.

To slice up run a sharp knife under a hot tap wipe any water off with a kitchen towel and slice the shortbread, this will cut beautifully through the chocolate giving you lovely clean sharp lines.