Zesty Berry Cheesecake with Aimée Hohls
“Some years back I organised a week-long, holiday cooking course for interested learners from local schools. The following year past-students, Georg Lens and Brynn Enslin, enrolled at Jackie Cameron School of Food & Wine. There was a young girl, in that particular group, who had a natural flair with food, and I knew that she would enrol for my culinary course, when her school days were over.”
Months later, I had a meeting with my website designers. Imagine my surprise when I saw this young, talented ‘foodie’ doing work experience there, in an industry so far removed from where I had imagined her to be. Although astonished, I kept my thoughts to myself.
Fast forward a few years. She enrolled at university, Covid-19 struck, and she started to question her decisions. And now, after an interview that started with, “I was wondering when you were going to enrol”, she is following her heart. How did I know where her passion lay? I could see it in her eyes.
Meet Aimee Hohls…
“My experience at Jackie Cameron School of Food & Wine has been everything I had envisioned, and more,” she says. “I have never been this passionate, driven, enthusiastic and fulfilled. The decision to enrol here was on the spur of the moment, and it has allowed me to follow my intuition. I deregistered from studying a humanities degree at the University of Pretoria and began training as a student chef, in the space of two days. While Covid has destroyed so many lives, I owe my new-found career as a chef to the virus because it gave me the space to think more creatively about what I wanted to put into – and get out of - life.”
The inspiration for the silky cheesecake topped with black cherries that Aimee has planned to share with you, comes from her grandmother ‘Gilly’, as she fondly calls her.
“After making a complete disaster of a gluten-free, raspberry and crème-fraîche cake for my uncle’s birthday, I decided to salvage what I could, and transform the cake into a summer berry trifle. To avoid another emergency trip to the shops, I taught myself to make my very first coulis. I was so thrilled with my effort that I took Gilly’s cheesecake recipe and made it my own by incorporating some lemon flavours and my chunky berry coulis. This I discovered made a very decadent cheesecake - it is wonderfully rich and creamy. If, like me, you prefer a dessert that’s not too sweet, I would recommend this recipe. The freshness of the lemon and the tartness of the berries create a well-balanced treat.”
I look forward to following Aimee’s journey with food – and I am delighted that she is making a career in this industry. Please send us your comments on her contribution – and let us know whether you can identify her passion in this recipe.
Explore my website to find out more about my Women’s and Men’s Chef Clothing Range. Remember Jackie Cameron Cooks at Home and Baking with Jackie Cameron – the books highlight all my foodie adventures. I always look forward to hearing from you so please communicate via email: jackie@jackiecameron.co.za.
Jackie Cameron - owner of Jackie Cameron School of Food & Wine in Hilton, KZN - for enquires email admin@jackiecameron.co.za.
Find me on Facebook – Jackie Cameron Cooks at Home, Twitter - @jackie_cameron and Instagram: @jackiecameronincolour
Food assistant and recipe developer: Aimée Hohls
All photos by Kathy Pitout Photography
