Help me to garnish this! - Printable Version +- Cuisine at home Forums (https://forums.cuisineathome.com) +-- Thread: Help me to garnish this! (/showthread.php?tid=89183)

Help me to garnish this! - foodfiend - 10-27-2009 The last time I served this, I used a quick raspberry sauce. It looks a little thick and, since I am baking another of these this weekend while we are visiting my parents, I would like to garnish it a bit nicer. "It" is a chocolate-amaretto cheesecake. I do have fresh raspberries, but would that be too plain? Sliced, toasted almonds? Any ideas? Re: Help me to garnish this! - Old Bay - 10-27-2009 Fresh mint? Whipped cream? Blueberries? Raspberry cream sauce? Chopped, toasted almonds? Baileys? Good luck!! Re: Help me to garnish this! - Gourmet_Mom - 10-27-2009 I like simple...I'd go Creme Anglaise with fresh raspberries. How about a thinner raspberry sauce zig-zagged on the dish with the slice of cheesecake topped with the Creme Anglaise and raspberries sprinkled over? Now for me, I don't care for raspberries, but I can't think how to work in the toasted almonds. I'm not a huge amaretto fan, but how would toasted hazelnuts work? Do the same as above with the zig-zag but sprinkle with the nuts. Culinary Artistry lists the following with chocolate (nothing on amaretto): almonds, bananas, caramel, cherries, cinnamon*, citrus peel, coffee*, coconut, cream or milk, ginger, lemon, liqueurs, malt, maple, mint, mocha, nuts, especially hazelnuts*, orange, passion fruit, pecans, pistachios, raspberries, rum, teas, especially Earl Grey, vanilla, verbena, violets, and walnuts. (starred items are best picks.) A recommended recipe is Warm Chocolate Cake with Hazelnut Caramel and Honey-Spiced Bananas. Does this help? Re: Help me to garnish this! - esgunn - 10-27-2009 How about toasted almonds and chocolate curls. Or the thinner rapberry sauce and chocolate curls and just a couple raspberries. If you did whip cream or creme anglaise - you could also do chocolate curls or a sprinkle of cocoa. I personally don't like a lot of stuff on my cheese cake. Just distracts from it and adds too much sweet. Puts it way over the top for me. Re: Help me to garnish this! - Gourmet_Mom - 10-27-2009 If you add chocolate, I'd do dark or bittersweet for sure. I'm with Erin on adding too much sweet. I do, however, LOVE creme anglaise with chocolate! And why I'm using creme anglaise instead of whipped cream, I do not know. I think it has to do with a recipe I found today doing a search on Billy. It was Roxanne's Grand Marnier Souffle with Creme Anglaise. Re: Help me to garnish this! - labradors - 10-27-2009 Raspberries, on their own, would not be as easily visible. Something brighter is needed to contrast. Daphne's idea is great. Another option, which goes well with raspberries anyway, would be white chocolate. Re: Help me to garnish this! - cjs - 10-28-2009 Vicci, how about for plates the color you are showing here, you could use the red from a raspberry coulee or white from maybe a loosely whipped cream or creme fraiche and drop a 'blob' (technical term ) to the side of the slice of cake and drag the back of a spoon thru it. I like just a hint of the sauce with cheesecake. Or if you have piping equipment - pipe a decorative something around the plate, even different size dots work. For a light plate, use the raspberry, for a dark plate use white or the raspberry. Re: Help me to garnish this! - foodfiend - 10-28-2009 Thanks so much for all of the suggestion! Jean, I forgot about the plate color (bad me!). We will be at my parents' house, and Mom has the "everyday" Pfaltzgraff and the "good" Royal Doulton, so I will be serving on a light-colored plate. I am so mad at myself. I screwed up the cheesecake. I had the ingredient list but, after 2 days of searching, couldn't find the directions I had written down. So I "winged it" and several things went wrong. And, of course, 10 minutes after I put the cheesecake in the oven I remembered where I put the directions! I won't go into it. Anyway, the good news is that my family will love it because they, oh how do I say this without seeming to be snotty, don't really care how their food looks as long as it tastes decent. The cheesecake will probably taste very good, but its appearance will not be up to my standards. I will make a thin (strained) raspberry sauce, "puddle" it onto the plate, then add a slice of cheesecake, some fresh raspberries over the top, and white chocolate curls over all. I love the creme anglaise idea, but that will have to be for the next time (after I've made it again, correctly). My own worst critic, you see... Re: Help me to garnish this! - Old Bay - 10-28-2009 Garnish with fresh mint leaves. Re: Help me to garnish this! - foodfiend - 10-28-2009 Yes! Mint! I just picked some for tea yesterday and it hasn't frozen yet. Chocolate-brown cheesecake, red raspberry sauce and berries, white chocolate, and green mint! Thanks, Old Bay!