An Evening with Anna Olson: Caramel Banana Cheesecake Recipe

Recently, 30 lucky customers had a chance to hob nob with Asian Food Channel's star chef Anna Olson at an intimate and exclusive session organized by household and professional use appliances giant, Electrolux.

Chef Anna Olson, on her very first trip to Malaysia as part of her Southeast Asia tour, graced the newly opened Electrolux concept store in Kota Damansara and treated all guests to a baking demonstration. She made none other than her signature dessert, the Banana Caramel Cheesecake. Now, which monkey wouldn't just perked up and paid attention upon hearing that right?



Anna was kindly assisted by the emcee of the evening, Ms. Xandria Ooi, who was still glowing radiantly from her wedding day. Talking and stirring bananas at the same time, she really takes the multi-tasking host role to a whole new level.

The both of them danced around the kitchen effortlessly as they went on chatting away like old friends while Anna puts the cheesecake together. We were regaled with funny cake disaster stories making her seem more human than her sugar goddess title makes her out to be. She was warm, she generous with her tips along the way, and told us how much she loved our Gula Melaka throughout the entire course of the demonstration.



A big thanks to Fatboybakes for hooking us up on this wonderful event. Since I've had front row seats that evening, let me share that experience with some videos I took and edited with my handy iPhone 4 *sniggers*

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Banana Caramel Cheesecake (Makes a 23cm cheesecake)
Recipe by Anna Olson

Crust
12 crunchy oatmeal cookies
1/2 cup pecan pieces
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

Banana layer
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon rum or lemon juice
3 firm bananas, sliced

Cheesecake filling
910g cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
seeds from 1 vanilla bean
5 large eggs

Caramel topping
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon corn syrup or lemon juice
1 cup whipping cream

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease the bottom of a 23cm springform pan and wrap the outside of the pan in foil.



To prepare the crust: In a food processor, pulse oatmeal cookies with pecans to an even crumble. Add melted butter and pulse to combine. Press into the bottom of prepared springform pan (not up the sides) and bake for 12 minutes. Allow to cool while preparing bananas.



To prepare the bananas: Heat a saute pan over medium-high heat. Add butter and brown sugar, stirring until melted and bubbling. Stir in the rum or lemon juice and add bananas. Stir just to coat and warm. Pour into cooled crust.



To prepare cheesecake: Beat the cream cheese until fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl often. Add sugar in 2 additions, beating well after each addition. Beat in butter and vanilla bean seeds. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Pour the cheesecake batter over the caramelsied banana layer in springform pan. Place springform pan into a baking dish and pour hot tap water around it to come halfway up the pan. Bake for 30 minutes, then reduce oven temperature to 160 degrees Celsius and bake for another 30-40 minutes, until filling puffs up slightly around the edges but still moves a little in the centre when shaken. Remove the pan from water and allow to cool for 2 hours before refrigerating overnight.

To prepare caramel topping: Combine sugar, water and corn syrup or lemon juice in a pot. Bring to a boil without stirring and cook, uncovered until it turns a rich amber colour. While cooking, occassionally brush down the sides of the pot with a brush dipped in cool water. Once sugar has reached desired colour, about 7 minutes, remove from the heat and carefully stir in whipping cream (watch out for the steam and bubbling). Return to medium heat and simmer until reduced y a third, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Chill until thickened but still fluid about 15 minutes. Pour caramel over cheesecake and chill completely. This can be done up to 8 hours before serving.

To serve: Run a knife carefully along the inside of the pan to loosen, remove pan and slice with a hot dry knife.



*Note: recipe was blatantly lifted off Masak-Masak's blog. Thanks Boo!