The Legend that is Manders...is 31!!!!

Another Birthday, another celebration, and yes…you guessed it…more CAKES!!!!

My dear friend Mandi, my Soul Sister, my travel companion in the epic adventure that was the South America trip of '08, my 'brother from another mother', and most probably, my 'wife from another life', as I like to call her...celebrated her 31st 'Bird-day' last week!

Cue another excuse for me to get baking. However, THIS time, birthday girl CHOSE what cake she wanted. 'Oooh, Marge, I fancy a cheescake! Can you make me a cheescake?!?!'

Now, when your Wife From Another Life asks you for Cheesecake on her birthday, you don't say "Nah, never done one of them before...the answer's No!" A Cheesecake is no easy cake to make! There are stages to consider, the base needs time to chill before baking, the baking isn't a straight forward 'shove in the oven' jobby, you need to bake it in a 'Bain Marie' (water bath) and fiddle around with cling film and foil to make the 'Spring Form Tin' watertight.... there are ALL SORTS of processes involved! That's why I hadn't bothered to make one before!

BUT, never one to be defeated easily, and never one to let down a dear friend on a birthday, I scurried off to search through my recipe books for a suitable cake to make. Weirdly, none of the recipe books on my shelf had a decent recipe for a BAKED cheesecake. There were ones for the type that you just chill in the fridge, but I don't regard them as proper cheescakes. I want the stodgy American style cakes that stick to the roof of your mouth. Dense, creamy and BAKED. The natural and obvious place to find that sort of unashamedly high–calorie glory would be, of course, in a Nigella cookbook.

Now, I actually don't own one, believe it or not, so I spent an evening in Waterstones Piccadilly (the BESTEST bookshop EVER) and scoured through a couple of her books and found the recipe for Key Lime and Double Chocolate Cheescake. (Didnt take long to find....there were about 5 different cheesecake recipes in this book. Unsurprising!) So instead of buying it, I pulled out my notebook and scribbled down the recipe. (Well, credit crunch and all that...! Bookstores are virtually libraries now anyway...) 

As feared, it was a bit scarier making this than ordinary cakes are. I rushed out to buy a spring form cake tin. Was quite excited about that! I patiently made the tin watertight...layered the cling film and foil a few times over the base, preparing it for baking in a water bath. How scary! Putting your carefully prepared cake into a tin, which then has to sit in a tray half filled with water! This is to allow the steam created to cook the cake gently and evenly, which is great, but I had all sorts of visions of a soggy base, and sludgy middle, and of being laughed out of the party! This was stressful! As a 'back up plan', I made a regular choc chip and banana cake too, just in case the first cake was a total failure!

In the end, all went well. The cake tasted goooo-ood. Tangy, citrus, creamy cheese filling and rich crumbly chocolate base. YUM. I will post the recipe of it up soon.

And here it is, (drumroll....) Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome, the KEY LIME CHEESECAKE!!! (well, they were regular limes, but what the hell...)

And not forgetting the all important 'back-up' cake: 

Just as well there were two cakes, all the candles wouldn't fit on one! haha...

Of course, how can I not show the star of the show...the birthday girl herself!

 

This time last year we were celebrating your birthday in La Paz, Bolivia, soon after the amazing trip around Uyuni and the Great Salt Lakes. 

Now here we are, back in London Town, taking a few more bites out of life! 

You and me babe, are like Amitabh & Dharmendra in Sholay, journeying through life on a bike and sidecar combo: 

:

Or, maybe a truer variation on the theme would be this:

The Two Fat ladies in bike and side car combo!

If I keep feeding you the way I am, we wont be far off! haha...

Maybe we should get a bike and sidecar?!?

Love you loads, wonderful lady!

"This time next year, Rodney..."

xxx