To make the graham crackers, cream butter, sugars and honey in a mixer bowl with a paddle attachment on low speed for 2 minutes. Sift remaining ingredients. Add the sifted dry ingredients to butter/sugar/honey mixture in two additions, allowing each to completely mix before adding the next. Wrap tightly and allow to rest for at least an hour before rolling or sheeting. Bake until light golden brown. Allow to cool before crushing into graham cracker crumbs. If using graham crackers as crumb for the plating foundation for the cheesecake base, stop here.

If baking the graham cracker as a crust for the cheesecake base (versus a crumb for the cheesecake base to sit on), combine 300g of graham cracker crumbs with 50g melted butter. Place a tablespoon of graham cracker on a shaped ring mold (see photo) lined with plastic on the bottom (this should be the same shape as your cheesecake). Bake at 325F for 7 minutes. Allow to cool before piping in the cheesecake batter.

Mascarpone Cheesecake:
850g cream cheese, room temp
550g mascarpone
330g sugar
6 Eggs
4g Lemon zest

Cream together cream cheese and mascarpone, then add sugar and continue to cream until light, fluffy and smooth. Add eggs one at a time, and zest, and scrape. Pipe into molds (either on to a cooled graham cracker base or by itself) and bake at 225F, fan low, for 7 minutes, rotate, and bake another 7 minutes or until set. Freeze.

Lemon Curd:
460g. Lemon Juice
15g Lemon Zest
400g Sugar
170g Egg Yolks
10 Eggs
1 sheet Gelatin
120g Butter

Get a water bath and a balloon whisk ready. Bloom Gelatin. Combine lemon juice, zest, egg yolks, eggs and sugar in a large bowl. Place over simmering water bath and whisk vigorously until curd reaches 180F. Remove from heat and add butter, followed by the bloomed gelatin. Strain. Fill dome molds halfway and freeze.

Limoncello Coulis:
110g fresh lemon juice
220g Sugar
220g Water
220g Limoncello (divided in half)
20g Cornstarch
2 Lemons, zested

Heat Lemon juice, sugar, water and half of the limoncello in a pot. Separately, make a slurry with the remaining limoncello and cornstarch. Right before the mix comes to a boil, add in the slurry. Cook about 4 minutes, whisking constantly. Remove from heat, add in the lemon zest. Chill.

Whipped Crème Fraiche:
16 oz Whipped Cream
8 oz Crème Fraiche
2 Tablespoon Sugar

Put in piping bag with or without tip.

Assemble:
Plate the cheesecake with either graham cracker crumbs and the cheesecake base; alternatively, if you’ve baked the graham cracker crust and cheesecake together, use a little blueberry compote to anchor it to the plate.

Add a spoonful of blueberry compote, just enough that the half sphere of the meringue can connect.

Add one half-sphere of meringue flower.

Dot with Whipped Crème Fraiche.

Add some lemon curd.

Spoon in some blueberry compote. Then spiral on more lemon curd to form a mound high enough so you can “connect” the meringue flower top.

Garnish the top with your own chocolate decoration, and then decorate the plate with more crème fraiche, blueberry compote, crystallized white chocolate, and dot with limoncello coulis.

 

To read more about Chef Kamel Guechida, click here.