Fig and orange goat’s cheese cake recipe and menu for this Saturday’s marmalade tea

This Saturday I’m hosting a marmalade and citrus themed ‘secret’ tea party. There are still some tickets left so if you are an afternoon tea fan, do come!
Just like Paddington Bear, I’m a marmalade lover. Award-winning marmalade maker Viv Lloyd has sent me some marmalade for the occasion.

Fig and Orange goat’s Cheese cake recipe:

This recipe is an adaptation from a recipe in MsMarmitelover’s Secret Tea Party book. I’ve always loved baked cheesecakes. Probably the best I’ve ever had is in Paris, in the Jewish quarter,  Rue des Rosiers, at a place more famous for its fantastic falafel, L’as du fallafel. But do try the cheesecake there, a fudgy, stick to the palette of your mouth, dense creamy delight. Using goat’s cheese enhances the acidity of a cheese cake. It’s not very sweet so I also added figs, orange zest and drizzled orange honey over the top. After I made it I thought a ginger biscuit base would work very well so next time I’ll do that.

You’ll need a springform pan of about 23 cms diameter.

Base:
200g ginger, Nice or digestive biscuits, crushed
50g salted butter, melted.

Filling:
3 eggs, separated
750g soft tangy goat’s cheese
250g mascarpone or cream cheese
200g caster sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla paste
Finely grated zest of 1 orange
20g cornflour

5 figs, split into quarters, but not cut down to the bottom

50ml of honey, liquid not set
Juice of half the orange

Grease the cake tin with butter

For the  base, whizz the biscuits in a food processor until they ressemble fine breadcrumbs. Add the melted butter and mix well.
Spread the biscuit mix all over the bottom of the cake tin, press well into the corners.
Chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 170C.
For the filling mix the goat’s cheese, the mascarpone, the sugar, the vanilla, the orange zest, the cornflour and the egg yolks together at a slow speed in a food mixer. Then in a separate  bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff. Gently fold the egg whites into the goat’s cheese mixture.
Remove the base from the fridge and tip the goat’s cheese mixture into the cake tin.
Bake in the bottom half of the oven for 50 minutes, covering the top with foil and removing the tin foil for the last 20 minutes. Leave to cool to room temperature then place it in the fridge to chill.
Slice up the figs and pile on top.
Mix the orange juice and the honey and drizzle over the figs and cake.
If the honey is set, warm for 30 seconds in the microwave.
This is best made the day before eating.