chocolate swirl cheesecake slice

I've recently discovered that cheesecake is popular at social gatherings but as it is hard to cut into lots of pieces, it can be difficult to serve. And besides, it is so rich that most people only want a taste. So cheesecake slice fills that little niche.I wouldn't use cooking chocolate in this, it will be nicer with good quality eating chocolate. Doesn't have to be green and blacks, just whatever is on special that week.

cheesecake slice

Crust

  • 2 x 250g packet of arnotts chocolate ripple biscuits (not plain brand)
  • 250g of melted butter

I crush my biscuits inside a cloth bag with a rolling pin, but if you have a food processor, that would make it a whole lot easier. Just don't crush them too fine. Or your crust won't have texture. Stir in the melted butter. Line one or two slice tins with baking paper, letting the edges hang out. I use two tins, each about 23cm square but a larger slice tin would be fine. Pressed down the base should be about 2-3 cms. Place biscuit mixture into tin and press down with back of spoon, then cover with a sheet of baking paper and roll with a flat sided glass. This will make the base nice and firm. Place in fridge while you make the filling.

Filling

  • 2 x 250g blocks of Philadelphia (or similar) cream cheese softened (back in the day when we had a microwave, I would cut it into chunks and zap briefly)
  • 200ml pure cream
  • 1 tablespoon of gelatine dissolved in 1/2 cup of boiling water and cooled
  • I cup caster sugar (I have used plain white sugar and it works fine, you just have to beat it for longer. Brown sugar would also work fine and taste lovely)
  • the juice of 1 orange, strained
  • 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract (the one from the supermarket is fine but get the extract not the essence)
  • 1 teaspoon of cinnamon powder
  • 100g dark chocolate
  • 100g white chocolate

Beat the cream cheese in an electric beater until there are no lumps. Add the sugar and dissolved gelatine and beat until the sugar is dissolved. Add the cream and vanilla and mix gently. Beat the mixture on medium speed until very soft peaks form. Melt the white and dark chocolate over simmering water or in the microwave. Divide the cheesecake mixture and add the dark chocolate and cinnamon to one and the white chocolate and orange juice to the other. The white chocolate mix might need some more time in the beater to come together. Spoon big dollops of each mix onto the crust and then make swirling patterns with a knife or a skewer. Place in fridge to set for at least four hours. To serve, lift out of the tray by the baking paper and cut into squares with a heavy knife.

NB - I put this in the on New year's eve as it wasn't quite firm enough to cut. It was delicious frozen too. Nice on a hot night.

3 comments:

  1. Yum!! Thanks Janet, I'm going to make it this afternoon. Had a bit a panic attack though when I saw it had gelatine in it. Normally if a recipe includes gelatine I turn the page and choose another. Had a few bad experiences with it....but that was about 18 years ago so I guess I should try again......

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  2. Thank you! This was delish so I'll have to give it a go. I've got all the ingredients at the moment... must be fate!

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  3. YUM. Want badly, NOW.

    Lovin' the new look too love.

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