We’ve been looking and looking for a cherry sauce to spoon over the Chocolate to the 4th Power cheesecake.
We realized we wanted big chunks of cherry in it.
That makes it…
Compote.
Once more we skip Webster’s…and go straight to Wikipedia:
Compote or compôte (French for mixture) is a dessert originating from medieval Europe, made of whole or pieces of fruit in sugar syrup. Whole fruits are cooked in water with sugar and spices. The compote is served either warm or cold.
The Bonne Maman cherry preserves are excellent, by the way, with GREAT cherry flavor, but we wanted to see if we could put together something on our own.
Jump to the Easy Recipe Card.
THE SEARCH BEGINS:
A lot of the recipes out there are simple: cherries, sugar, water.
We wanted something more.
We wanted complexity of flavor.
Something that makes you go…wow.
One recipe was intriguing but we lost track of it. Months later we stumbled back across it.
The Back in the Day Bakery is a Mom and Pop business in Savannah Georgia. And judging by the Google reviews, it is …an institution.
They’ve been in business since 2002 and they’re running a 4.7
After 18 years.
Whoa.
THE BASICS
Their basic recipe for the cherry compote is a great starting place, it uses lemon zest and vanilla extract and balsamic vinegar to bump up the cherry flavor.
Balsamic vinegar.
Anytime we see a dessert recipe that uses vinegar we are intrigued.
It’s unexpected in a sweet dessert, so you know it’s gotta be doing something.
Cherries work with balsamic vinegar and also with lemon, but the 4th power cheesecake is so rich that we want to intensify the flavor to stand up to it.
We’re getting fancy here…first we’re going to do the recipe pretty much straight from the Back In The Day Cookbook, with maybe a pinch of salt added.
Then we’ll do a second run, and go offroad.
Cause that’s what we do.
WHAT ARE THE OFFROAD POSSIBILITIES?
We know cherry is the operative flavor, but what goes with that?
What enhances cherry?
Almond extract substituted for vanilla??
Kirsch?
Orange zest, orange extract?
While we’re thinking about all that, time for action:
EQUIPMENT:
- 1 qt saucepan
- stirring spoon
- small bowls or custard cups
- small sharp knife
- juicer
- measuring cups/spoons
INGREDIENTS
- 2/3 cup water
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
- zest of 2 lemons
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 16 oz fresh or frozen cherries
- generous pinch salt
LET’S GET STARTED:
The water, sugar, balsamic vinegar, salt and lemon juice go into the saucepan.
Bring to a boil, reduce heat to about medium and reduce until just syrupy consistency, 6-8 minutes.
Continue on medium heat and add cherries, lemon zest and vanilla.
Combine well…then boil, stir and reduce until the cherries start to break, another 6-8 minutes.
You’ll know when it’s compote.
Let it cool before it goes over the cheesecake, so nothing gets unduly melted.
THE BEST LAID PLANS…
For the experimental run we made some substitutions:
- kirsch (cherry cordial) for the water
- the 2 teaspoons vanilla became…
- 1 tsp almond extract
- one tsp. lemon extract
The theory was that the kirsch would boost the cherry flavor.
The lemon extract would boost the lemon flavor, which in turn enhances the cherry flavor.
The almond extract subs for the vanilla, on the premise that almond and cherry are a classic flavor combination.
IT TURNS OUT:
The kirsch, lemon extract and almond extract produced a muddled, indistinct flavor that was just OK, not outstanding.
Overthunked.
Simpler is better.
The Back In The Day Bakery recipe, with the water, lemon juice and vanilla, gave us a cleaner, more direct, brighter sauce that went really well with chocolate.
BACK IN THE DAY BAKERY WINS!
Enjoy!
HOLD THE PHONE!
Remember that expression?
Long time ago….
The failure of the experimental sauce kinda gnawed at us. Maybe the problem is we got too complicated with the whole thing.
Back to the cheesecakeMAX library for one last try before publishing this post.
The Eli’s Cheesecake Cookbook has a recipe for cherry compote.
We ran it just like the recipe, plus a generous pinch of salt:
- 20 oz cherries
- 1 cup OJ or brandy (we used brandy)
- 1/2 cup sugar
This sauce is handled like a French sauté….
All the ingredients into the saucepan.
Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for about 10 minutes, until the cherries start to break up.
With a slotted spoon remove the cherries to a Pyrex bowl, then continue simmering the liquid until it reduces.
Reducing is going to intensify the flavor.
The recipe says 15-20 minutes to reduce, but it was frothing way out of control at about 8-9 mins, so we shut her down.
Pour the reduced sauce over the cherries, and let everything cool down before serving.
Excellent.
We’re still going with the Back in the Day recipe because of the bright forward flavor, but the Eli’s is definitely up there.
And it’s simple.
Enjoy!
LINKS:
Back In The Day Bakery Cookbook
What to Drink with What You Eat
