Some days you want to surprise your dinner guests with a unique creation that they never saw coming. All desserts are made equally delicious but cocktail-inspired ones definitely pack a punch. Believe it or not, you can play around with these drink flavours and infuse them to come up with a sweet surprise that will be polished off within minutes. Here are some recipes:
Negroni Cheesecake
Ingredients:
- 50 g blanched and toasted hazelnuts
- 180 g digestive biscuit crumbs
- 4 tbsp melted butter
- 500 g cream cheese
- 80 g caster sugar
- 200 ml heavy cream
- 6 gelatin leaves
- 100 ml gin
- 100 ml sweet vermouth
- 100 ml orange bitters
- 3 Seville oranges
Instructions:
- Pulse the hazelnuts along with the digestive biscuit crumbs to create the base of your cheesecake.
- Mix in the 4 tablespoons of melted butter.
- Press the biscuit mixture into the base of a springform cake tin. Bake it in the oven for 10 minutes at 180 C and let this chill in the fridge for a couple of hours.
- Zest two oranges, then blend it in the cream cheese and caster sugar.
- Whisk the heavy cream until you get soft peaks then fold in the orange and cream cheese mix into this.
- Ladle it over the set biscuit base and let the cheesecake set.
- Soak the gelatin leaves in warm water.
- Create the negroni, and then warm 100 ml of it in a saucepan with some orange zest and the juice of the remaining orange.
- Squeeze any excess water from the gelatin leaves and add them to the warm negroni. Whisk thoroughly.
- Add it to the remaining negroni, then pour this mixture over the chilled cheesecake.
- Let the gelatin layer set before serving. This should take about 2 to 3 hours.
Pina Colada Cupcakes
Ingredients:
For the cupcakes:
- 209 g flour
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 150 g brown sugar
- 50 g granulated sugar
- 113 g melted, unsalted butter
- 120 ml fresh pineapple juice
- 120 ml coconut milk
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 egg
For the frosting:
- 170 g room temperature unsalted butter
- 360 g confectioners’ sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp coconut extract
- Pinch of salt
- 60 ml heavy cream
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 180 C and line a muffin tray with cupcake liners. You can also use a silicone cupcake baking mould too.
- Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together first.
- Then whisk the melted butter and the sugars together. Next add pineapple juice, coconut milk, egg, and vanilla extract.
- Fold in the sifted flour into the wet ingredients.
- Fill the cupcake liners and bake for 20 to 25 minutes.
- Let the cupcakes cool and start working on the frosting.
- Beat the softened butter until smooth and creamy, then add half the powdered sugar, heavy cream, and vanilla and coconut extracts.
- Then add the rest of the sugar and whisk further.
- Once the cupcakes are cool, pipe the frosting over them or just use a spatula. Decorate with some sprinkles, if you want.
Espresso Martini Tiramisu
Ingredients:
- 400 ml freshly brewed espresso
- 2 tsp brown sugar
- 4 tbsp vodka
- 4 tbsp coffee liqueur
- 500 g mascarpone
- 600 ml heavy cream
- 3 tbsp icing sugar
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp instant coffee powder
- 300 g sponge lady fingers
- 50 g Cadbury Bournville dark chocolate
- Cadbury Cocoa Powder, for garnish
Instructions:
- Mix the brewed coffee, brown sugar, 3 tsp of coffee liqueur, and vodka in a bowl.
- Whisk the mascarpone, heavy cream, icing sugar, and vanilla extract until you get soft peaks.
- Set aside ⅓ amount of this mixture, and add coffee powder along with the rest of the coffee liqueur into the rest of the cream.
- Dip the sling lady fingers in the coffee and coffee liqueur and layer them in the bottom of a serving dish.
- Spoon the plain mascarpone and heavy cream mix over this and grate some of the Cadbury about bills chocolate.
- Add another layer of coffee dipped sponge lady fingers, then ladle the coffee infused cream.
- Rinse and repeat until you’ve finished all the ingredients.
- Dust the top layer with Cadbury cocoa powder and chill in the fridge. Serve chilled.