Goddess Mandala Cheesecake

“I knew that in finding the Mandala as an expression of the self I had attained what was for me the ultimate.” – C. G. Jung.

Mandala is a Sanskrit word meaning circle. In Buddhist and Hindu religions their sacred art often takes a Mandala form: a circle with a centre point. They can be an aid to meditation and trance induction.

The stunning book ‘Celestial Gallery’ by Romio Shresta is packed with stunning mandalas, many of which feature a Goddess at the centre. For mine, I placed half a fresh stoned cherry.

When decorating a cake employing this kind of symmetry, concentration and repetition is involved. This I find compels me towards inner stillness, a sense of being totally present in the moment.

This Cheesecake is quite simple to make if you have the spring form tube tin with the swirly design at the base. This type of tin is available worldwide and is ideal to slot the mandarin segments into. When you serve it, everyone will wonder how you set the design into jelly, since it is made upside down. The cake does however require patience as you need to let it sit in between stages.

It uses easy to buy convenience foods and guarantees success.  You can use all cottage cheese if you wish or all full fat cheese. A word of warning though… if you use low fat cottage cheese or low fat Philadelpia the results will not be as good, since low fat products contain a much higher percentage water.

Ingredients

• 2 packets of lemon jelly
• 225 g packet of full fat Philadelphia cheese
• 225g carton cottage cheese
• 1 tin of mandarin oranges
• 5 pineapple rings from a tin or fresh pineapple
• 150ml syrup from mandarin oranges.
• 100ml water
• 1 egg
• 25g caster sugar
• 175ml fresh whipping cream

Base (in this case it goes on top; later to be flipped out)

• 400g digestive biscuits crushed
• 150g butter

Method

1. Melt a quarter packet of jelly in a saucepan with 4 tablespoons water( do not boil). Pour the melted jelly into ring mould and place mandarin segments in every second space. Allow to set.
2. In the saucepan melt the remainder of the jelly with 100ml water and 150ml juice form mandarin oranges.
3. Blend together the cottage cheese, Philadelphia cheese and melted jelly until smooth and evenly mixed. Leave in a bowl to cool and partly set. (about 1 hour)
4. Chop the pineapple into little chunks to add texture. Do not add until ht emixture thickens.
5. Whisk cream in a bowl
6. Beat egg white until it reaches the same consistency as the whipped cream. Fold in the caster sugar.
7. When the cheese mixture has set to the same consistency as the cream, first fold in the cream followed by the egg white. Pour into the prepared tin and allow to set for 1-2 hours.
8. Crush biscuits in a bag with a rolling pin or in a blender.
9. Melt butter and mix in the biscuits. Press down on the cheesecake mixture and leave to set for 3 hours before turning out.

Un-moulding

Bring the cheesecake to room temperature, about 30 minutes before serving. Fill a basin 1/3 way up with very hot water. Dip the tin in for 10 seconds. Place a plate on top and reverse. Cheesecake should slid out with the gorgeous jelly shape intact. Now decorate as you wish. Mandala are all about self expression so use whatever fruit you have available in whatever shape you desire.

Traditionally a Mandala is a circle within a square, as served here.