Confession: before this week, I had never made a baked cheesecake. It was one of my page-turners. Everyone must have page-turners, right? You know when you’re flicking through a recipe book (or, in this day and age, more likely a blog or online magazine), and you see a certain ingredient or instruction and automatically think ‘No, thank you!’, turn to the next page, and move swiftly along? Well, every time I see instructions to wrap a springform tin in cling film, then in foil, then fill it with cheesecake mix, then sit it in a water bath, then bake the cheesecake, then leave it to cool with the oven door oven, then let it sit overnight… well, I tend to think ‘Sod that’, and go and make a fridge-set cheesecake instead. It’s a combination of fear and laziness, really.
So, I thought this week would be a good opportunity to finally get over my baked cheesecake prejudice and make one. Well, make three. I don’t have enough ramekins for crème brûlée, and I’m certainly not going out to buy them. And although I do like meringue, I don’t think anyone could really like meringue enough to get through a whole Spanische Windtorte. Also, it would leave me with a dozen egg yolks that I wouldn’t know what to do with. Somehow, making three cheesecakes started to seem like the most sensible option.
Spoiler alert: it was definitely not the most sensible option. It was actually a huge hassle, and all of our friends will be eating cheesecake for days.
Nonetheless, I made three baked cheesecakes and managed to stack them into a tower that didn’t collapse, so I am definitely calling this a win, despite the fact I had to literally buy a kilogram of cream cheese to make this and nobody should ever really be doing that.
I’ll be really interested to see what everyone else tries to make this week, because I imagine lots of you will have the same problems and reservations that I did regarding crème brûlée and Spanische Windtorte, but making three tiers of cheesecake doesn’t exactly feel like the easy way out. Oh, how I miss cake week. Next week is free-from baking – you know, sugar free and gluten free and such – and I can’t imagine that will be any easier.
Can we also just take a moment to mourn the departure of Sandy from the tent? She was never one of my picks for the final, but she was definitely one of my favourite bakers. Some of the things she said literally made me laugh out loud.
Also, Ian winning star baker is now getting boring. Three weeks in a row?!
So, on to the cheesecakes. I will admit that these are not going to be winning any beauty contests. By the time it got to the decorating stage, I was short on time and very stressed, so it was all a bit of a rush job and I am terrible at tempering and piping chocolate, so I basically threw things on top of them and hoped for the best. I also had to move the delicate cheesecakes around so much – first to stack them and then to separate them – that they started to crack a bit. Nonetheless, they were really delicious. Once I have gotten over the trauma of this, I might actually make a baked cheesecake again.
On the show, Paul and Mary kept complaining about fruit bleeding into cheesecake, but what’s wrong with that!? I actually like that, and purposefully mashed up my fruit a bit in the cheesecake batter to encourage the pretty colours rippling into the smooth, pale cheesecake.
Source: I started with a plain baked cheesecake recipe from Leiths How To Cook and then adapted it. A lot.
Notes: I very much doubt that anyone wants to be as insane as me and make this whole recipe start to finish, so I am not going to give any instructions for stacking or decorating, which is all common sense in any case. The method is exactly the same for all three cakes, only with different quantities and some variations on ingredients, so I am going to provide the ingredients for each cake and only write out the method once.
One of the reasons I went for this particular base recipe was that it didn’t ask you to mess around with a water bath or wrapping the tin, and I am inherently lazy. It seemed to work out fine just bunged in the oven like a regular cake.
This would have looked far better if I’d had a smaller top tin, but I didn’t, and didn’t want to buy a new one just for this, so such is life.
Ingredients:
for the little white chocolate, blackberry, almond, and ginger cheesecake (16cm)
for the base
50g butter
65g ginger biscuits
20g ground almonds
for the cheesecake mixture
3 tbsp caster
10g cornflour
240g cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla
2 medium eggs
90ml cream
100g white chocolate
100g blackberries
for the medium milk chocolate, hazelnut, and raspberry cheesecake (20cm)
for the base
85 butter
125g oat biscuits
25g chopped skinned hazelnuts
for the cheesecake mixture
5 tbsp caster
15g cornflour
415g cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla
3 large eggs
100ml cream
200g milk chocolate
150g raspberries
for the massive dark chocolate, apricot, and pistachio cheesecake (23cm)
for the base
100g butter
150g digestives
30g roughly chopped pistachios
for the cheesecake mixture
6 tbsp caster
20g cornflour
500g cream cheese
2 tsp vanilla
4 large eggs
200ml cream
150g dark chocolate
4 apricots, stoned and chopped
Method:
- Preheat your oven to 200C/ 180C fan/ gas 6, and grease and line your tin. Melt the butter for the base. Crush the biscuits, either by beating them in a plastic bag with a rolling pin or whizzing them in the food processor. Put them in a bowl and mix in your nuts. Add the butter, mix, and then press the mixture evenly into the base of your tin. Bake the base in the oven for ten minutes, then remove and leave it to cool. Lower the oven temperature to 150C/ 130C fan/ gas 2.
- For the topping, set aside 2 tbsp of the sugar. Put the rest in a large bowl with the cornflour and beat with the cream cheese and vanilla to combine. Separate the eggs, and then beat the yolks into the cream cheese along with the cream.
- In a large clean bowl, whisk the egg whites to medium peaks, and then whisk in the saved 2 tbsp of caster sugar. Gently fold the egg whites into the cream cheese mixture.
- Melt the chocolate in a glass bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Gently fold it into the cheesecake mixture, along with the fruit.
- Pour the mixture over the biscuit base and bake for 40-50 minutes, or until just set with a slight wobble. Leave it to cool in the tin. Chill in the fridge.
Wow! I personally believe they look beautiful.. well done! Do you have a party or gathering you can take them to? 🙂
Thank you! I just put out a post on Facebook asking if any of my friends in the vicinity wanted some cheesecake, and it was gone by the end of the day!
Yolks are good for making very nice lemon curd. 🙂
Yes, good point! But still, twelve of them?! I don’t think I could eat that much lemon curd either…
Hannah, this is IMMENSE! I’m well impressed you managed to complete the dreaded cheesecake trio. Looks delicious.
Saskia / girlinbrogues.com
Thank youuu! There were definitely times when I thought it was not going to happen and that I was mad for trying.
Oh my goodness! Huge congrats! It looks phenomenal! xxx
Thank you very much! Luckily I had lots of people to share it with so it didn’t go to waste, but it was a monster… xx
OMG!! How did you do that? That looks brilliant, you’re so talented! I must know how you explained to people that you made them all cheesecakes and stacked them!
Oh, thank you! That’s so kind. I literally wrote ‘Does anyone want some cheesecake? Seriously, I will come and drop it at your house right now. We cannot eat this much cheesecake or we will die. Please save me from myself’ on a Facebook status and it was gone by the end of the day.
This deserves a STAR BAKER title! It looks amazing! 🙂
You’re too kind, thanks so much 🙂
Wow well done! I love your decorations, as if you think they don’t look pretty! I also went for the cheesecakes, which seems a bit nuts but I thought it might be the easiest out of the lot! Safe to say I won’t be eating another cheesecake for a looooooong time to come.
x
Oh, I don’t know, it would take more than that to put me off cheesecake! I also thought it would be the easiest! Clearly I have a skewed idea of what is easy x
You should be so proud! This looks amazing!!
That’s very kind of you to say – thank you 🙂
Wow! Hats off to you lady! Very impressed, and to say you’d never made a baked cheesecake before! All 3 look yummy!
Angela x
Thank you! Very kind of you. It did go better than I thought it would x
Wow this is a stunner! You make wonders as always – very impressed! Might definitely try that white chocolate, blackberry, almond, and ginger recipe – as I’m the same and I’ve never made a baked cheesecake!
Thank you, that’s very sweet of you to say! To be honest, it was much easier than I thought it would be! I wish all the things I am terrified of went that well…
Hannah, you’re a bloody genius, these look divine! Seriously delicious cheesecakes and you’ve decorated them beautifully! Puts my bru-lakes to shame!! Alice xx
http://www.woodenwindowsills.co.uk
Oh, I am sure they still tasted delicious! Thank you 🙂 x
Well done on making three! They all look so beautiful and delicious. The chocolate work is so pretty too!
Thank you very much! It was only the second time I tried chocolate work so it’s a bit wobbly…
Wow! Go you for making the showstopper! It looks so impressive, I could easily see someone have that as a wedding cake alternative!
Laura
http://www.agirlandherhome.com
Thank you! It would have to be a looooot prettier to be a wedding cake, but we’re getting married next year and I must admit I was thinking the same thing! x
Hannah, these look absolutely stunning, hats off to you! And now you need never feel daunted by a baked cheesecake again, because cheesecake ALWAYS goes down well! x
These are beautiful baked cheesecakes. I know what you mean about having lots of leftovers. I take them into work, to our local pub and give them to family and friends!
I’m sure these went down extremely well!