Monday 14 August 2017

No-bake white chocolate cheesecake with red berries

Cheesecake made with Philadelphia cream cheese was one of the revelations in a brief year of home economics classes at secondary school. I remember it was incredibly simple, bashing up digestive biscuits to make the base, sweetening the cream cheese and topping with a can of cherry compote. And it was utterly delicious.


Many of the recipes in my cookbook collection are for baked cheesecakes, and I can't find a recipe as simple as the one we used - maybe it was just cream cheese and icing sugar? In the end, I couldn't resist adding white chocolate as suggested by the Lorraine Pascal in the Philadelphia website. And with berries in season, it seemed only right to make my own compote and pile on the fresh fruit for an Instagram hit...

Ingredients
(Serves 6-8)

150g digestive biscuits
30g melted butter
250g white chocolate
360g cream cheese
50g icing sugar
A few handfuls of fruit (raspberries, strawberries and blueberries)



Method

1. Blitz the biscuits or bash in a freezer bag with a rolling pin until crumbed. Stir in the cooled melted butter and spoon into a lined 20cm loose bottomed cake tin (or a springform tin if you have one). Press down firmly and chill while you make the filling.


2. Melt the white chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. While it melts, beat together the cream cheese and icing sugar in another bowl. Add a spoonful of cream cheese mixture the chocolate and mix gently but thoroughly. Add the remainder of the cream cheese mix, one spoonful at a time until it's all combined.


3. Spread the filling onto the buttery biscuit base and put back in the fridge for at least at hour to firm up.

4. To make the topping, gently heat 2-3 tablespoons of berries until soft then press through a sieve to make a purée. Pour over the chilled cheesecake and put back in the fridge.


5. To serve, unmould the cheesecake by placing the base on a tin and wiggling and sliding the sides down to release the cake (or unclipping the spring), then pile the remaining berries on top.


Enjoy with a glass of prosecco while you try to convince your guests that you really didn't buy it at the shops!





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