As an avid tea drinker, and amateur baker, I knew I wanted to experiment with adding tea to my baking. Matcha baking is already very popular, but what about the other tea powders, beyond matcha?
I began my tea baking journey with a Hojicha White Chocolate Cheesecake. I experimented with adding different amounts of Hojicha to a white chocolate cheesecake, to find the perfect balance between the sweetness of the white chocolate, and the sweet, woodsy hojicha powder.
Hojicha is a green tea made from bancha leaves, that are then steamed, rolled and dried, before being roasted.
It is an unshaded tea, with a sweet rounded flavour, and subtle notes of almond – perfect to pair with white chocolate, in my opinion.
I had a simple recipe for a white chocolate cheesecake, but had no idea how much Hojicha to add… which is where the fun begins…
We tasted two different versions… one we’re calling Hojicha Cheesecake, and the other… Super Hojicha Cheesecake!
The recipe below is for the Super Hojicha Cheesecake, but if you prefer a lighter taste, I’ve also included the measurements for that, too.
Check out the final recipe and results below. We at Obubu were absolutely blown away by the results, but we’re interested to hear your thoughts.
If you decide to make this yourself, please tag us on social media – we’d love to see!
Recipe
Biscuit Base
175g Biscuits
90g Butter
Cheesecake filling
25g Hojicha Powder (for the lighter version, use 15g)
400ml Double Cream
400g Cream Cheese
300g White Chocolate
Method:
- Before starting, allow your cream and cream cheese to come up to room temperature – this can take a couple of hours.
- Melt the white chocolate over a double boiler, or in the microwave, and allow to come to room temperature.
- Crush the biscuits, this can be done in a food processor. If you don’t have a food processor, you can add the biscuits to a sandwich bag and crush with a rolling pin
- Either on the hob or in the microwave, melt the butter and add to a bowl with the crushed biscuits. Mix together until combined
- Add your butter/ biscuit mix to the bottom of your 23 cm (9”) pie/ cake tin. (You can also use mini pie cases for a miniature version, or divide between two smaller tins as I have done)
- Whip together the double cream, cream cheese, Hojicha powder and room temperature white chocolate until fully combined
- Smooth the Hojicha white chocolate mix over the biscuit base.
- Chill for at least 3 hours in the fridge
– Miko, Intern #168.