Terry's Chocolate Orange Cheesecake

What better way to restart the weekend blog posts than with a festive Terry's Chocolate Orange Cheesecake!

This is a no-bake cheesecake so really does require minimal effort but will wow dinner guests or family this Christmas because its big on flavour and full of all the fun things in life. I recently made this for the second year running for my #friendmas and it went down a treat yet again.

Ingredients

Cheesecake Filling:
500g full-fat cream cheese
85g icing sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon orange extract
2 x 175g Terry’s chocolate orange (1 normal & 1 dark chocolate)
300ml double cream


Biscuit Base:
600g chocolate digestive biscuits
280g unsalted butter
Decoration:
Terry’s chocolate orange segments, mix of normal and dark

Putting it all Together

To prepare the base: Melt the butter in the microwave. Whizz the biscuits in a food processor to a fine crumb. Add the melted butter and mix until well combined. Tip the mixture into a 23cm springform cake tin and press down until firm smoothing over with the back of the spoon. Pop in the fridge to chill and get started on filling.

Melt the chocolate orange over a bain-marie and leave to cool slightly. In a mixing bowl beat together the cream cheese, orange extract and the icing sugar until softened. In another bowl whisk the cream until soft peaks form.

Fold the cream cheese and cream together and then pour in the chocolate and fold through.

Get the tin out of the fridge and then spoon the chocolatey cheesecake mixture over the biscuit base and smooth over with a spatula. Pop the orange segments on in an alternating pattern, cover and pop back in the fridge to chill for around 6 hours, or if you can overnight.

When you are ready to serve to all those hungry people, remove the cheesecake from the tin and decorate.

Serve with some cream and you are good to go. Christmas in a cheesecake!

Salted Caramel Mini Cheesecakes - Recipe

Today boys and girls is a recipe for something very special indeed which is only right as this is my 50th post on this blog. It is possibly the nicest dessert I have ever made. If, like me, you have already forgotten that you are meant to be on a diet this is perfect…

Ingredients (makes 12) 

Double Chocolate Crust

180g Double Chocolate digestives

60g unsalted butter, melted 

Cheesecake Filling

300g cream cheese, softened to room temperature

130g caster sugar

60g crème fraiche

2 large eggs

100g chocolate chips 

Salted Caramel sauce

200g caster sugar

90g salted butter, cut up into 6 pieces

120ml single cream

1 teaspoon salt

Method to the madness 

First we need to make the mini cheesecakes: 

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Line a muffin tin with 12 muffin cases.

For the crust: In a food processor, pulse the digestives into a fine crumb. Add the butter and pulse until it’s all mixed together. 

Press 1 heaped tablespoon of mixture into the bottom of each liner. You should have enough for 12. Bake for 5 minutes and allow to slightly cool as you prepare the filling.

For the filling: In a food processor mix the cream cheese on medium speed until completely smooth. Add the sugar and crème fraiche and whiz on medium speed until combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, whizzing on a low speed after each addition. Pour in the mini chocolate chips.

Spoon the batter on top of the crusts until nearly full. 

Bake for 20-23 minutes. The centers may also have risen up quite a bit, but they will deflate as the cheesecakes cool. 

Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely at room temperature, for at least 1 hour. Transfer to the refrigerator and allow to chill for at least two hours or overnight for best results.

Once those are in the fridge it’s on to the sauce. Salted caramel is like pourable sunshine. It just makes me so darn happy with its sticky sweet and salty goodness. I made enough to cover the cheesecakes and also have loads left over so I can just pour it on top of EVERYTHING. 

Heat the caster sugar in a medium NON STICK saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. The sugar will form clumps and eventually melt into a thick brown, amber-colored liquid as you continue to stir. Be careful not to burn or you will have to start all over.

Once the sugar is completely melted (like the above), immediately add the butter. Be careful in this step because the caramel will bubble rapidly when the butter is added and stopping to try and take photos is not advisable…..

Stir the butter into the caramel until it is completely melted, about 2-3 minutes and then very slowly, drizzle in the cream. 

Allow the mixture to boil for 1 minute before removing from the heat and stiring in 1 teaspoon of salt. Allow to cool down before using.*

 Pour into a jam jar to keep

Right before serving, top each cheesecake with salted caramel and additional chocolate chips, if desired, I used cookie crumb sprinkles. 

 Cover the cheesecakes tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Store cheesecakes (without caramel) in the freezer for up to 2 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight.

Admire your masterpieces.

 xxx

*(You can cover the caramel tightly and store for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator. Warm the caramel up for a few seconds before using in a recipe).

White Chocolate Cheesecake - Recipe

I know that I should be blogging about salads and soups but I made this delicious cheesecake for my family at Christmas and I just have to share it with you. So if like me you are starting your diet 'next week' you might want to try this simple but delicious dessert.

Ingredients

300g philadelphia cream cheese

250g mascarpone cheese

300ml double cream

2 x 300g white chocolate bar. You can use any type of chocolate and even use less

500g biscuits e.g. digestives

200g butter

Mixed fruits for the topping

Method to the madness

Crush the biscuits until completely ground. Add butter (either in food processor or gently heat on hob) until desired crumbly consistency. The trick is to use the right amount of butter to bind the biscuit together; too little, and it will be really crumbly; too much and it will become soft, so make sure you add it a little at a time. Add the biscuit mixture to a cake tin and pat till flat. Leave to set in the fridge for approximately 30 minutes.

Begin melting the chocolate in a glass bowl over a a small pan of hot water on a low heat. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking.

Mix the philadelphia and mascarpone cheese together with a whisk; hand or electric. Add double cream and whisk. Finally, add melted chocolate to the mixture and whisk. 

Spoon the mixture over the cooled and set biscuit base. Return to the fridge to cool and set overnight.

Finally decorate with fruit or other topping.

xxx