Durian cheese cake recipe

Over the years, I have been asked on numerous occasions to provide the recipe for chilled durian cheese cake.    A friend of mine shared the original recipe with me years ago but I have changed it over time to suit the climate, the people I make it for, the fruit that is in season and the occasions.  

For me, baking/cooking is not really about following the exact quantity or (at times even) the recipe.  I tend to cook/bake based on taste and feel, perhaps largely dependent on what I have in the pantry at that moment in time:->   Makes it that much more exciting!  I have made the cake using mangoes, berries and bananas.   I have even included melted dark chocolate into the biscuit base.   Happy for you to adapt this recipe to your taste and hope you will have as much with it as I have had to date.  I am still adapting the recipe as I go.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

• Durian flesh (shredded or chopped roughly) - about 250gm to 300gm
• Digestives biscuits (about 250gm)
• Whipping cream (fresh) - about 200 ml
• Cream cheese (1 block will roughly make 1 x 20cm springform cake tin)
• Butter (softened at room temperature) - about 30gm to 50gm
• Gelatine - powder form (1-2 teaspoon)
• Castor sugar - to taste

10 Steps and that's all there is to it!	Handy tips
1.  Shred or chop roughly FRESH durian flesh and set it aside in the fridge.	-  Please DO NOT use durian flesh which has been frozen beforehand.  It changes the taste of the cake.  If you don't have fresh durian, substitute with other fruit.  Fresh mangoes, berries, bananas work just as well.
2.  Break apart the digestive biscuits until all you are left with are biscuit crumbs.	-  Potato masher does the trick.  If you have food processor, even better, just run the biscuits through the processor until you get the biscuit crumbs.
3.  Mix the crumbs with softened butter until the crumbs more or less stick together.	-  If you are not sure, roll a small ball of the crumbs and butter mix in your hand.  If they stick together, you got the right consistency.
4.  Press the biscuit mix firmly into the cake tin.  The biscuit base should be about 1cm thick or slightly more if you are using a higher cake tin.  Put into fridge to set and chill slightly.	-  The finished cake should be about 4 part durian mix to 1 part base.  So basically, if your cake tin is 5 cm in height = 4cm of durian mix + 1cm of biscuit base.
5.  Beat the cream cheese with the castor sugar until its a creamy thick paste.  The sugar will also lighten the colour of the cream cheese.  Put back into fridge.	-  Please add castor sugar according to your taste.  Important thing is to taste the durian flesh first.  If you like it sweeter, add the castor sugar but bit by bit at a time.
6.  Next, whip the fresh cream/whipping cream until it forms a peak.	-  For both steps 5 and 6, a handheld electric whisk is your best bet.  If you feel like having a workout - please, by all means, use your hand to beat/whip the cream cheese mixture/fresh cream.  Just add another 1 hr (at least) to your preparation time :-p
7.  In a small glass filled with hot water (1/3 cup), put in 1 to 2 teaspoon of gelatine powder and whisk it rigorously.  Set it aside.	-  Don't use gelatine sheet, it will make the cake too firm.
8.  Mix the durian and cream cheese mixture together.  Then fold the combined mixture with the whipped cream.  Add the gelatine liquid to the final mixture and mix thoroughly.	-  The durian mix (post gelatine liquid) should still be a pretty thick mixture.  That is, it should not be runny.
9.  Pour the durian cake mix into the cake tin.	-  Make sure you spread evenly to all corners.
10. Chill the cake in the freezer overnight (or for at least 6 hours).  Before serving, take it out from freezer and put it in the fridge or at room temperature (depending on how much time you have before serving the cake).	- This is a chilled cake.  No baking required. - If you wish to give your delicious cake to friends/families, use aluminium type containers instead.  That way, you don't have to wait for someone to return your cake tin (I know that can be such a bore).

Vegemite

A close friend of mine recently went to the trouble of scouring the supermarket aisles because I had lamented a craving for Vegemite.  She found it…bless her! The closest equivalent of Vegemite is Marmite…but I think this is a rather distant second.  I didn't take to Vegemite initially but it is something that I cannot live without today.  

Vegemite grew on me…a bit like how some people gradually grow on us.   It has been my constant source of comfort food for many years and is my favourite spread on buttered toasts twenty four years on.  I hope it remains to be so.

*****************************

February it was of eighty-eight

Towards the end of summer's late

Down-under heave-ho! bags and crates

My mother in tow, my airplane's date

Far from home, over the seas

I was so shy and very tiny

Of weight which was under thirty

My mother wondered "who's going to feed me"?

Food I was not fond at all

Besides matron I sat, in the dining hall

She watched me eat (canned) spaghetti meatballs

I felt like hurling against the dreary wall

Days went by till one morning at brekkie

A new friend came by and said to me

"Try this spread, it looks chocolatey,

Then tell me if it tastes iffy?"

I looked at her and said "Excuse me"

"You try it first and then convince me!"

She said "I tell you what, since you're my buddy"

Let's try it together!" and smiled cheekily

I took up the bottle against the light

The label read, big bold Vegemite

I opened the lid and sniffed inside

"Doesn't smell like chocolate", I cried

My interest was piqued, I looked around

Saw an Aussie girl heaped a very large mound

of this "iffy" spread on her toasted bread

Aha! I thought, "It's not so bad, what's to fret?"

So I followed suit and took a large bite

Of my very first taste of Vegemite

I spat it out; my throat felt tight

Nearly passed out, thought I was heading to the "light"

Chocolate it is not, was my discovery

Horrid the first taste, disgustingly salty

For I had spread Vegemite too liberally

On my buttered toast in my naivete

But something about it interests me

So I tried it more at breakfasts daily

I found that if I spread it lightly

The taste grew on me, day by day...slowly

Today, Vegemite comforts me

On crumpets or toasts, with coffee or tea

It gives me a lift and it's also healthy

Being a rich source of Vitamin B :->

You may wonder by now, where was my "buddy"?

There I was choking Vegemite out of me

She didn't dare try it to my amusement really

When she was the one trying to convince me!

Vegemite remains a lesson in my life

What I may dislike at first, gotta take it in strive

Whether it's food, people or the nine-to-five

Everything…Everyone…deserves more than one chance in life