Undeniably there are hundreds, if not thousands, of different cheesecake recipes. This recipe that I would like to share with you today, keeps things simple yet easily adaptable to your preferences. My version basically derives from a ‘New York’ cheesecake recipe, just without the addition of eggs or the requirement of baking the cream cheese part of the cake.
Ingredients (serves 4-6).
For the base:
- 250g of crumbled ginger biscuits.
- 3 tablespoons of melted butter (-preferably unsalted).
- 3 teaspoons of caster sugar/sugar substitute (-I use brown sugar or sweetners).
The cream cheese mixture:
- 250g of cream cheese (-I always use Phildelphia as it has a typical cream cheese undertone, but is quite creamy).
- 1 cup of double cream* (-double cream has a full fat content, however using single/low fat cream makes the cream cheese mixture too runny thus making it difficult to combine the ingredients; even during the chilling process).
- A dash of vanilla essence or a vanilla pod.
- 100g of same sugar/sugar substitute that you used of the base.
*If you have a sweet tooth, you can use condensed milk as an alternative to double cream.
Top layer decoration:
- Fresh fruits of your choice (-I used green grapes, mandrain segments and sliced strawberries).
Recipe:
- Crush the ginger biscuits in a zip-lock bag or a sterdy bowl; you can do this easily by using the back of a spoon or the flat end of a rolling pin. (Please be careful when doing this, otherwise you’ll be treading and spreading biscuit crumbs all over the floors of your home for a week. Trust me).
- Set the biscuit crumbs aside and melt the butter in a small saucepan, on a low heat.
- Once the butter has melted, remove the pan from the heat. In the saucepan which contains the butter, add the biscuit crumbs and 3 teaspoons of sugar. Stir together gently.
- Take a round 8 inch or a small rectangular baking tin and press the biscuit base into the bottom of the tin until even. (There is no need to grease the baking tin).
- At 180°, blind bake the biscuit base for 8-10 minutes; this allows the base the become more solid and less crumbly when the cheesecake is sliced.
- Whilst the biscuit base is in the oven, you can begin to form the cream cheese mixture. Using an electric-whisk cream the creamcheese, the double cream and sugar together. This should take only 3-5 minutes, becoming thick enough to be of a spreadable consistancy. Chill the the cream cheese for later use.
- After 8-10 minutes you may remove the the baking tin from the oven. Leave the biscuit base to naturally cool down to room temperature.
- Approximately after 1 hour, the biscuit base will have cooled down enough to layer the cream cheese mixture on top. Spread the cream cheese mixture evenly: using a palette knife makes this simple.
- Return the cheesecake to the refrigerator for 5-6 hours.
- Finally the cheesecake should be completely chilled and well formed together. Decorate with your chosen fresh fruits. You can additional graze the fruits with gelatin.
