guava cheescake and gelatin

hello everyone!

I've made this cheescake about 6-7 times I reckon, it has a wonderful flavor, I freeze it, and then when I wish to finish its decoration with ate de guayaba (guava fruit pate?) I take it out of the freezer and put the layer of the guava on the top. I leave it in the fridge before delivering. I have served it still slightly frozen and it maintains shape.

The problem: as it has been outside of the fridge a while it starts to slope over, especially as you start to serve it when its not so colds anymore. I don't know if this is the quantity of gelatin problem, if this type of cake must at all times be in the fridge or what...?

I asked the chef about it and she said that the sloping over shouldn't occur, but I don't know what I'm missing ...

My clients haven't complained about it, they're pretty content with the flavor.

recipe calls for:

500g cream cheese
200 g sugar
300 pureed guava, 150 diced guava

300 heavy cream (whipped)
9g gelatin

Shall I up the quantity of gelatin and see what happens?

I didn't really think about whether or not I could freeze it, we did it at the school, so I think that's not the problem. I may try using greener guavas, but they have such an intense flavor when they're en su punto (they're cooked in sugar water with cinnamon of course), I may just play with the gelatin.

bavarians I think can be frozen as well, mousse I don't know.

cheers, Karen

Sure. No problem Bob. I apologize for some of the translations, I cook in Spanish! :smiles:

Ingredients:

300 g pureed guava
150 g diced guava
(you will need about 1000-1200 g fresh guava, save two raw for decoration)
cinnamon stick
sufficient heated guava paste for decoration (la costeña)
500 g cream cheese
200 g refined sugar
300 g heavy cream
8 g gelatin or 14 grams in sheet gelatin

Wash/scruba the guava, cut in half, remove ends. Put to boil in a sugar syrup of 250 g water and 100 g sugar, with a stick of cinnamon.
Don't reomove the skin. When it's done, drain and let cool. Then proceed to take out the seeds (they're very hard and you can break your teeth on them!)

Mix cream cheese with sugar until it becomes fluffy (spongy?), add pureed guava, gently mix in the diced guava so as to have small pieces in the finished product.

Prepare the gelatin with water (5 gr of water per gram of gelatin), mix a bit of the guava mixture with it as it is liquid, and then incorporate it into the whole mixture. (I don't know how to say "temperar" in english.)

Whip the heavy cream until "flower" appears.

Fold the cream into the mixture and pour into a previously prepared graham cracker crust-20-24 cm spring pan) I have been using the following recipe with good results: 100 g graham crackers, 30 g pecans, 52 g butter, 1 tsp cinnamon, 24 g brown sugar (mascabado). put in oven shortly to cook/brown. Before putting the mixture in, it's a good idea to use plastic roll (?) around the pan so it doesn't stick.

I have been freezing this overnight. In the morning, I take the guava paste out, warm it on the stove, put it in the food processor, and put it on the top using a metal spatula. (de angulo) The two fresh guavas: cut them in half , one half being a little larger, take out the seeds, put them on the cake, put a piece of anis in each one. My son says they look like eyes!

well, I hope that explanation wasn't too hopeless! Suerte! Karen


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Hello again.

Thanks for the tip of the modifed food starch. I would ask another question there. If I left it only in the fridge for several hours rather than freezing it, the "weeping" shouldn't happen then?

As for "temperar"-what the purpose is, is to avoid in this case, that the gelatin hardens up if you put in all at once into the whole mixture, which would be a disaster. You also do this when making a pastry cream...a little of the cream to the yolks gradually as you don't want cooked eggs...don't know what the translation is.

piloncillo: I don't know that you could use that, myself I find it very sweet, it certainly might be cheaper as an ingredient you can find in the market, but it's only used for the crust, and its very little anyway.

Usually, you find it used in typical dishes such as calabaza de castilla, which is a sort of pumpkin which is boiled in water, piloncillo, and cinnamon. Typical of the day of the dead, a harvest food,

thank you for all your help. :smiles: Karen

one last thought for Ed the chef:

If I don't freeze this cake, the problem is that the ate (guava paste) is not going to work. The cake is very soft, and really a mousse.

cheers and good day! karen

For those of you who are venturing to make this, I got some other tips on it:

for the mousse: up the gelatin to 10g,

and for the guava paste: use:
180 GR ATE DE GUAYABA LA COSTEÑA
2 GR GRENETINA EN POLVO
10 GR AGUA

somehow I feel like I'm always getting the penultimate tip... (can I say that? the next to last), lots of learning to do!

sweet guava dreams. Karen :lips: