A Sweet Town - Abergavenny, Wales

When I'm in the UK I'm in Abergavenny nearly every week both for work and pleasure.  It is a sleepy town most of the time, but comes alive during the Food Festival which attracts over 40,000 people and some top chefs.  I'm looking forward to it in a couple weeks, and wanted to give tribute to some of the local individuals and businesses doing some great things in food.

I work with Chef Penny Lewis and her fantastic cookery school called The Culinary Cottage located just outside of Abergavenny in a beautiful rural setting.  Penny has cooked for the Queen and family on several occasions and personally teaches all the cooking courses herself.  All of her recipes not only taste great, but are a great addition to your home meal rotation.  If you live or visiting the area, make sure to say hello to Penny.  Support her on twitter @culinarycottage and visit her blog for her recipes.

My favorite cafe in Abergavenny is Cwtch, which means loosely means 'snuggle' for the local Welsh.  Graham is the owner and took over this cafe January this year, and has done some great things with the place.  Now the stand out part of the cafe for me has to be the cakes.  Graham not only runs the cafe but bakes all the cakes himself!  He is such a pleasure to chat with, which is the prefect accompaniment to the meal.



His raspberry chocolate cake was perfect so I couldn't attempt to replicate it but it did inspire me to put a NY twist and make this raspberry chocolate cheesecake. 

Raspberry Chocolate Cheesecake

• 180g graham crackers
• 75g melted butter
• 100g milk or white chocolate
• 300g light cream cheese
• 200ml double cream
• 75g sugar
• 150g raspberries
• icing sugar

1. Blend the graham crackers in a food processor and add the melted butter.  Mix well and place in a 20cm flan ring with a push-up base and pat down with the back of a spoon. 

2. Melt the chocolate in a microwave or a glass bowl set over a pan of simmering water. 

3. Mix the cream cheese, cream and sugar together until smooth. Add the raspberries and stir in, then add the melted chocolate and quickly swirl through. 

4. Spoon into the flan ring and smooth the top with a palette knife, then place in the fridge and chill for 2 hours. 

5. Serve dusted with icing sugar and a little melted chocolate if you like.