6 May 2012

Weekly Bake-Off Challenge #5...

Come and join in!









...and this one was just in time for my birthday...

We were challenged with making Mary Berry's American Chocolate Ripple Cheesecake which I found the recipe for not only in my copy of her book, but on the BBC website (link above)...

It is a really easy recipe, and it's a baked cheesecake...but it has only 7 ingredients in total! It is definitely not one for the calorie counters!!! as there's a pound and a half of full-fat cream cheese in it!!! However it is a really great cheesecake!!!Just see for yourselves...
 ...like most cheesecakes, you need to start by lining a tin, in this case an 8-9inch tin, with a push-up base (or springform)...It will make releasing the finished product so much easier! I don't have a very deep tin this size, so made the greaseproof lining taller to hold the cheesecake mix in whilst it baked...
 Take about 100g chocolate digestives, and crush them...they need to be pretty well crushed!! It's a great way to get rid of any stress, going at them with a rolling pin!!! The recipe says plain chocolate ones, but I think milk would be fine...
 ...melt 50g butter in a small pan, and mix in the crushed biscuits...
 ...line the base of the prepared tin with this buttery biscuit mix, and press firmly down...pop into the fridge to set while you get on with the next bit...First though, get the oven on to Gas 3/160c...and melt some dark chocolate, 150g of it (forgot to take photo of this step!!! Ooops!!)...this can cool a little while you beat the cheese...
 ...using a mixer either handheld or a freestanding one, beat the cream cheese (all 675g of it!!!) until smooth...then add in 1tsp af vanilla...use the best you can get, no synthetic stuff...
 beat in 2 large eggs...and you're almost there...
 ...spoon half of the cheese mix onto the base..leaving gaps between it...mine seemed very runny, and the gaps pretty much disappeared before I added the next bit!!
 ...Mix the melted chocolate into the rest of the vanilla cheese mix and spoon between the plain vanilla mix...
 ...get a-swirling with a knife, and pop into the oven...cook for about 30mins, the cheesecake will puff up around the edges, but still seem a bit runny in the middle, this is fine, because you are going to turn the oven off, but leave the cheesecake in it until it cools down...this will finish off any cooking that might be needed...
 ...It will crack on cooking and cooling, don't stress or get upset, it is just the way of the cheesecake...and who are we to argue with it?!?
 ...once cool, pop into the fridge to cool right down, I made mine the day before I needed it, and it kept really well...
 ...serve well chilled, and in small slices...it is really rather rich!! I added some lovely tart, fresh raspberries to mine...and they counteracted the richness beautifully...Oh, and the candle? Well it was my birthday!!
All in all a good bake, the taste was great (enjoyed by all), the bake was simple, as were the ingredients, but if I was to do it again (and The Small Ones have asked me to make one next weekend when friends are over for dinner) I think I will change a couple of things...
1) I think I may double the  base amounts - so 200g biscuits to 100g butter...
2) I will halve the mixture before putting any into the tin and add the chocolate then...and by alternating them, there will be a much better chance of a good ripple effect...

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