Persimmon cheesecake with chocolate sauce

Today it's the Independence Day of our country, Finland. We celebrate it by inviting some of our closest friends, eating good food and watching the big party from TV which is held every year in the castle of our president. Every celebrity, politician or famous sportsman get invited, and the veterans of our wars with Russia too (they are the guests of honour). I love the day of Independence, because on that day it feels that everything goes back to where it should be, on that day we realise how wonderful it is to have an independent country and what have the men in war done for it. It's so amazing.

So, I wanted to bake something very delicious and also try something new. I love persimmons, they're my favourite fruits right now (I could eat a dozen in a day!) and in my mind I had a thought rising about the persimmon cheesecake. That's what I did, and it turned out great. I decided to use Finnish Domino cookies in the base (quite same as Oreos) and puree the persimmons for the filling. I didn't want to put any sugar to the filling, because the persimmons are so sweet, that's why I added one can of condensed milk (it gives sweetness but not too much). And the other thing I must say to you is that the crust doesn't need any butter, because the domino cookies have a cream filling, which works like butter in the crust. And if you keep your cheesecake in the fridge overnight the crust becomes even more moist, I really suggest you to do that.

So wonderful, I have to say. And everyone loved this cake, they wanted to have more and more end even my brother who's very hard to please said that is was crazily good! The chocolate sauce was a magnificent companion to the persimmon - it was so terrific that I can't even describe it!

Ingredients:

250 g Domino or Oreo cookies

3 packages philadelphia cream cheese (600g)

(Remember to take the cream cheese into room temperature for 30 minutes before baking, so that it softens)

1 can condensed milk

3 persimmons

3 eggs

Chocolate sauce:

100 ml cream (20%)

100 g dark chocolate

1. Heat the oven into 150°C. Line the base of the springform cake pan with a parchment paper, butter the sides of the pan. Crush the Domino cookies and spread over the base.

2. Whisk the cream cheese so that it's soft and smooth (no lumps). Add the condensed milk, mix well but not too much (the cheesecake's surface will crackle if there's too much air in the filling.

3. Wash the persimmons, take the leaves off and then cut into smaller chunks.

4. Puree them with a handmixer. It's okay that the puree has small chunks of the fruit, it's only good for the cake. But only small.

5. Add the persimmon puree to the cream cheese, mix and then add the eggs, mix well.

6. Pour into the cake pan, bake in the oven for about one hour. Open the oven's door, take the heat off and let the cake stand in the oven for one hour. Then take away to the room temperature, let cool down for about 1-2 hours and put in to the fridge overnight.

7. To make the chocolate sauce: melt the chocolate in a kettle with the cream on a low heat, mix to create a smooth sauce.

8. Serve with chocolate sauce, and decorate with persimmon if you want to.