“There’s more to life than chocolate, but not right now”
Anonymous
There’s a new book out there, & it sounds good … Cooking Green by Kate Heyhoe. It’s aimed at shrinking your ‘cookprint’ (new interesting word for me), & offers daily strategies for ‘lower impact living’. To quote the author, “How we cook is as important as what we cook. Fortunately, the kitchen is the place where you can make real green choices, and take direct control of your impact—through passive and active cooking strategies, water conservation tips, and low-carbon choices for cookware, appliances, foods, dining, and more. Save money and time, too, just by rethinking how you cook and eat. 
Cooking Green is like having a personal eco-consultant at your side whenever you cook, shop or eat. You’ll discover how to prepare favorite meals using less fuel and water, and make greener choices along the entire food chain, from field to market to home. The goal: lower your impact, and shrink your cookprint. Topics cover cookware from skillets to pressure cookers, appliances small and large, buying options from organics to packaging, and strategies that stretch from water heater to kitchen sink.” 
Cooking Green is like having a personal eco-consultant at your side whenever you cook, shop or eat. You’ll discover how to prepare favorite meals using less fuel and water, and make greener choices along the entire food chain, from field to market to home. The goal: lower your impact, and shrink your cookprint. Topics cover cookware from skillets to pressure cookers, appliances small and large, buying options from organics to packaging, and strategies that stretch from water heater to kitchen sink.” This eggless no-bake cheesecake was delicious, but more importantly, gained brownie points due to a lower cookprint & use of yogurt in the form of curd cheese. It also gave me a chance to combine 2 good things in life … chocolate & strawberries. We’ve bid adieu to strawberries this season, & this is one the last few things I tried while I could lay my hands on some good fresh ones.
I receive numerous mails from readers of my blog looking for ‘eggless cakes’. A large portion of people in India are vegetarian / ‘no egg’ eaters, some on certain days of the week, some for a short period of time, & some others for life. I’m not a huge ‘egg in food’ person myself, & prefer my ice-creams, pastas, bread eggless etc, but have come a long way in learning that the problem lies more in my mind than on the plate. I have no reservations about using eggs , but sometimes would choose a panna cotta over a bake which has eggs. Strange…hmmmm.
Baking & eggs do go hand in hand … what do eggs do?
Eggs, as well as flour, are the structural ingredients in baking. Eggs provide leavening; add color, texture, flavor and richness to the batter. They are very important in helping to bind all the other ingredients together. Beaten eggs are a leavening agent as they incorporate air into the batter, which will expand in the oven and cause the cake to rise. Some cakes use beaten eggs as their only source of leavening. Eggs are also used as a thickener in custards and creams, and to glaze pastries and breads. Egg whites are used to make meringues.
Baking & eggs do go hand in hand … what do eggs do?Eggs, as well as flour, are the structural ingredients in baking. Eggs provide leavening; add color, texture, flavor and richness to the batter. They are very important in helping to bind all the other ingredients together. Beaten eggs are a leavening agent as they incorporate air into the batter, which will expand in the oven and cause the cake to rise. Some cakes use beaten eggs as their only source of leavening. Eggs are also used as a thickener in custards and creams, and to glaze pastries and breads. Egg whites are used to make meringues.
Yet, ‘no bake & no eggs’ make good friends at times. Learnt that in this Strawberry Refrigerator Cheesecake I did earlier. This time it had to be chocolate. I had hung curd cheese in the fridge, & wanted to make something with chocolate this time around. There was frozen yogurt in the freezer, so frozen chocolate yogurt would have to wait for another day, though is entirely a possibility in the experimental days to come. 
Of course when I lay down at night, the mind kept thinking, & this is what I attempted the next morning. I had initially planned individual desserts, but lack of time forced me to make a single cheesecake with curd cheese. It came out beautifully…smooth, rich & delicious! For the biscuit base, I used some left-over Brown Sugar Shortbread I had iced earlier in the week for Easter.
I had made about a dozen round cookies to use as a base for individual desserts, but a rapid change of plans made me crush them. Feel free to use graham crackers or digestives if you like.
Of course when I lay down at night, the mind kept thinking, & this is what I attempted the next morning. I had initially planned individual desserts, but lack of time forced me to make a single cheesecake with curd cheese. It came out beautifully…smooth, rich & delicious! For the biscuit base, I used some left-over Brown Sugar Shortbread I had iced earlier in the week for Easter. I had made about a dozen round cookies to use as a base for individual desserts, but a rapid change of plans made me crush them. Feel free to use graham crackers or digestives if you like.
CHOCOLATE STRAWBERRY REFRIGERATOR CHEESECAKE (Eggless)
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups curd cheese (made with curd hung overnight to remove all whey)
400ml low fat cream (We get a 25% fresh cream/Amul here)
200gms dark chocolate
50 gms white coocolate (optional)
1/2 cup vanilla sugar (or plain)
1 1/2 tbsps gelatin
1/3 cup milk; cold
Biscuit crust
200gms brown sugar shortbread cookies; crushed (or gingersnaps/digestives etc)
200gms brown sugar shortbread cookies; crushed (or gingersnaps/digestives etc)
75gms melted butter
Method:
- Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold milk & leave over a bowl of warm water till clear & melted.
- Melt the dark chocolate & loosen it with 100ml cream. Microwave for 20-25 seconds to blend well if need be. Leave to cool.
- Whisk the curd cheese & sugar in the processor till smooth. Add the melted dark chocolate ganache & whisk till well blended. Then add the gelatin mixture & blend again. Adjust sweetness if required.
- Melt the white chocolate with 2 tbsps cream, & stir until smooth.
- Hull & halve about 10 strawberries for the sides if you like, reserved 3-4 for topping, & hull, chop the rest.
- Line a 7″ spring from tin with baking parchment on the bottom & sides. Stand the halved strawberries all around, tip facing downwards & drizzle some white chocolate around the circumference to hold them in place. (You can omit this if you are short on time).
- Scatter the chopped strawberries on the bottom of the tin. Pour the chocolate mixture gently over this, careful that the standing strawberries don’t get shifted. I have just an 8″ spring from tin, so I used a ring in the centre to get a decent height to my cake.
- Set in the fridge for at least 4 hours, check to see that the top is slightly firm. Then mix the melted butter into the breadcrumbs, & tbsps by tbsp spread gently but quickly over the top to form a uniform crust. You need to this a little quick as the butter will begin to set in contact with the chilled cheesecake. Allow to set a further 4 hours or overnight.
- Invert onto a dessert plate, garnish the top & serve chilled slices!
This is also my entry for Monthly Mingle #32 @ What’s For Lunch Honey, where the lovely Meeta is calling for fruity Spring Cakes. Our Spring is done with here in India, but this fruity cake is all yours Meeta…
I love all of the strawberries! Gorgeous!
Beautifully decorated!
You can’t go wrong with choc and strawbs!
Absolutely lovely pics and great looking cheesecake…Just get fatter each time I visit your blog – its so drool worthy
Hey that looks really gr8! and I like how the recipe calls for hung curd rather than cream cheese which makes things just too rich.
Gorgeous pictures and great information. Thanks for sharing!
My god that quote about chocolate is so true. And thank you for the book suggestion, that one sounds like a must-read!
Dan
Casual Kitchen
lovely cake..nice decoration..very nice!!
This is great, I love the no baking part! Looks beautiful!
Looks so yummy, and as always, your photos are fantastic!
Lovely cheesecake..that too eggless cant ask for more…pics looks awesome..
oh this looks delicious. I love that its eggless. Can I use something else instead of curd ? and can I use full fat cream and perhaps substituting some of it with some milk?
Sorry for asking so much questions. This looks delicious and wish to try it
OH MY GOOD!!! This is wonderful and amazing Deeba, as ever!!! xoxoxoxoxoxo Gloria
Oh my word Deeba, what a sweet tooth you have just given me.
This is so beautiful! It looks truly scrumptious! And such beautiful photos!
Deeba, This is beautiful. I love that it is no bake.
I’ve been waiting for this! Yay! Deeba, you rock
Thank you for the book recommendation – it sounds like a great read! As for this cheesecake, it looks amazingly rich and decadent.
It definitely is a stunner!!!!
Hmm I still don’t get the egg-aversion but I guess I have a wider preference than most. The cake looks delicious!
Eggless and no baked? this sound perfect for summer entertaining Dee! Delicious and very pretty looking cheesecake. You just give me an idea…
xoxo,
elra
Deeba,
I have not been here for the longest time, sorry! my life is so busy during the winter. My husband races in snowboard races and I teach little children to ski so we are in the mountains almost all winter. I do not have much time for blogging let alone enjoy the beautiful blogs out there especially yours!!!!
Your creations are orgasmic!!! Am I allow to say that?
I shall be changing my blog site soon too just working on a few things, I love your new site it rocks!!!
I love all these egg less creations, they are just a bit healthier, but most of all they look so scrumptious!
Your cheesecake and pictures are stunning! I’d love to taste mulberries… A great choice of flavors!
Cheers,
Rosa
The Cooking Green book sounds really interesting. I’ll have to keep an eye out for it. In the meantime I still haven’t made hung yoghurt, but I promise I’ll get there. Chocolate and strawberries is a lovely combo!
What an interesting looking book. Seems like Cooking Green is a must add to my already expanding collection of cookbooks.
deeba what a lovely entry and just perfect for my party! i knew you would make a lovely creation!
Deeba,
I love your blog. Your creations are just beautiful. The amount of time you must spend on each recipe AND picture are probably mind-boggling.
I’ve left you an award on my blog. Congratulations, you deserve it!
This is another WOW!
I'd been searching for a no-bake cheesecake recipe for months, when I discovered this yours! Most of the recipes I'd find online would have ingredients like Cool Whip which you don't get easily here in India (even if you did, I wouldn't want to use it!) and to make things better, you use hung curd instead of store bought cream cheese! I made the cake and it turned out GREAT! Thanks a lot, I really owe you one!