Everybody loves kisses. A tender peck or a passionate kiss. Smooch for a friend, or a long lingering sign of love for that one special someone. Kisses were also the inspiration for this fun-filled cake, perfect for the upcoming spring celebrations. Bake your own kiss cake with inspiration from those most cherished people.
The chocolate kisses form the heart of the cake. The flavours I chose were strawberry and vanilla because who doesn’t like a flavour filled surprise. The kisses are wrapped around a smooth, velvety chocolate and strawberry cheesecake. The base is a traditional crispy biscuit base, flavoured with cocoa powder. The top is filled with a bunch of fresh strawberries topped with a sugar paste glaze. The best surprise of the cake are the kisses’ crunchy chocolate crusts and the mallow centres inside the smooth cheesecake
The flavours are easy to change to each taste by simply only choosing a different flavoured kisses. In the chocolate cheesecake mixture, I used Lindt’s strawberry dark chocolate, which is perfect for this cake for its matching flavours. The strawberry bits in the chocolate bring their own twist to the mixture. The top of the cake can be decorated in a bunch of unique and different ways. Take advantage of the season’s best berries and fruits and to finish of the topping you can even use edible flowers!
As I was writing this post some sad news reached me involving one of the cake’s main ingredients. Börje Brunberg brought the idea of the chocolate kisses to Finland from Europe in 1951. Unfortunately, he passed away in mid-June this year at the age of 92. So let this recipe be my homage to this innovative confectioner from a former confectionary factory worker.
KULINAARI’S KISS CAKE (roughly 12 pieces)
Biscuit base:
12 chocolate kisses (vanilla and strawberry flavoured)
200 g Digestive biscuits crushed
70 g melted butter
1 tbls cocoa powder
Chocolate cheesecake mixture:
100 g dark chocolate
5 g gelatine sheets
2 dl whipped cream
200 g unflavoured cream cheese
100 g Turkish yoghurt
2 tbls sugar
2 tbls hot water
Strawberry cheesecake mixture:
150 g unflavored cream cheese
250 g fresh strawberries mashed
1 tbls sugar
3 g gelatine sheets
1,5 tables hot water
Topping:
About 400g fresh strawberries sliced
1 dl caster sugar
2 dl water
23 cm cake tin, baking paper
Cover the base of the cake tin and the sides with separately cut baking paper. The paper will stick better if you slightly grease the sides of the tin. The baking paper should come out of the top of the tin about 3 cm because the cake might become taller than the tin.
Mix the cocoa powder and the melted butter into the crushed biscuits. Compress the biscuit mixture to an even layer to the bottom of the tin. Put the kisses on top of the biscuit base — choose your own flavour combinations according to your own taste. Put the tin in the fridge to cool down.
Put the gelatine sheets into some cold water. Melt the chocolate on top of a water bath. Mix the chocolate into the cream cheese and then add the yogurt and sugar
Press the excess water off the gelatine sheets and dissolve them into hot water. Pour the gelatine mixture into the chocolate cheesecake mixture as a thin string mixing it while pouring. Add the whipped cream and mix to a nice even consistency.
Take the tin out of the fridge and pour the chocolate cheesecake mixture evenly on top of the kisses. Knock the tin gently against a table a couple of times so that the air bubbles break and the surface will become more even. Put the tin back into the fridge while you make the strawberry cheesecake mixture.
For the strawberry mixture add the cream cheese, mashed strawberries and the sugar and mix them to an even consistency.
Dissolve the gelatine to hot water and pour it in a thin string into the mixture constantly stirring.
Pour the strawberry cheesecake mix on top of the chocolate mixture and put the tin in the fridge to set. Preferably until the next day. Cover the cake with some cling film before putting it into the fridge.
Decorate the top of the set cake with sliced strawberries and finish it off with the glaze. The recipe of the glaze can be found on the caster sugar packet. Let the glaze set in the fridge for a while before serving. I know that the waiting is the most dreadful part but this cake is worth the wait.
Slightly heated knife is recommended for cutting the cake. This way the kisses inside cut more neatly.
