Falooda No Bake Cheesecake

Falooda is an Indian drink made from mixing rose syrup, vermicelli, sweet basil (sabza/takmaria) seeds and pieces of jelly with milk, often topped off with a scoop of ice cream.

I love falooda and thought it would be nice to make it into an actual dessert rather than drink hence the cheesecake.

This was my first attempt at making any cheesecake let alone a fancy one. My base recipe was from BBC GoodFood 

The combination was fantastic and the dessert was delicious. Apologies for the lack of photos; i was engrossed in preparing it in time for a dinner get together.

Ingredients

•250g digestive biscuit
•100g melted butter
•1 tsp vanilla essence
•600g soft cheese (full fat Philadelphia)
•100g icing sugar
•284ml pot double cream
•Strawberry Jelly
•Soaked Basil seeds (tukmaria)
•1 inch pieces of Vermecilli, cooked and then soaked in some rose syrup
•Rose Syrup
•Rose Petals & Pistachio for decorating

 

Method

1. Base: Line the base of a a 23cm loose-bottomed tin with baking parchment. Blitz the digestive biscuits until they become fine crumbs. Add the melted butter to the crumbs and mix using your hand. Tip the mixture into the tin and into the press firmly down into the base to create an even layer. Chill in the fridge for 1 hr to set firmly.
2. Make the jelly as per the instructions on the packet but before you put the jelly to set in the fridge add the soaked basil seeds. Set jelly.
3. Cream filling: Place 600g soft cheese,100g icing sugar and the vanilla essence in a bowl, then beat with a mixture until smooth. Tip in the double cream and continue beating until the mixture is completely combined. (At this point it should be stiff and you should be able to hold the bowl upside down).  Put in about 3 tablespoons of rose syrup into the mixture and the cooked vermicelli without the syrup. Give this a good mix with a spoon.
4. Get the base out of the fridge and put the jelly on the biscuit base to form a layer. Spoon on the cream mixture onto the jelly making sure there no air bubbles. Smooth the top of the cheesecake down with the back of a dessert spoon or spatula. Leave to set in the fridge overnight.
5. Top with chopped pistachios and edible rose petals.
6. To un-mould the cheesecake, place the base on top of a can then gradually pull the sides of the tin down. Place the cheesecake on a serving plate, removing the lining paper at the bottom.
7. Enjoy

The cheesecake was on the creamy side and the jelly was sliding off the base when I was serving it. Next time I would probably semi set the jelly so it sticks to the base better. Also I have read somewhere that you just need enough cream for the consistency so I would add a bit of cream at a time.

Have you got a great gelatin free no bake cheesecake recipe? Any tips to help improve mine?

If you attempt the recipe, hope you enjoyed it in the same way my family did.

Neha x