Black Forest Cheesecake

When I saw this cheesecake recipe listed in the top 10 Women's Weekly cakes I knew I had to try it. This is only the second cheesecake I have made, the other one was a baked cheesecake. It was really yummy. I think I prefer chilled cheesecake to baked cheesecake.

Here's what you will need to make it: 250g plain chocolate biscuits, melted butter, gelatine, cream cheese, caster sugar, lemon juice, thickened cream, 425g can pitted black cherries.



To make the base place the chocolate biscuits into a food processor.

Process until mixture resembles fine bread crumbs.

Add in 125g melted butter.

Process until well combined.

Press mixture evenly over the base of a 20cm springform tin.

Place on an oven tray and refrigerate about 30 minutes until firm.

Meanwhile, sprinkle 3 teaspoons of gelatine over 1/2 cup of water in a small heatproof jug. Stand jug in a small saucepan of simmering water. Stir until gelatine dissolves; cool 5 minutes.

Place 250g softened cream cheese, 3/4 cup sugar and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice into a medium bowl.

Beat until smooth.

Mmm yum!

In a separate bowl whip 300ml cream until soft peaks form.

Fold cream into cream cheese mixture in two batches.

Fold in the gelatine mixture.

Drain the can of cherries over a bowl, reserve 3/4 cup of the syrup for the topping.

Pat cherries dry on paper towel. You will only need half of the cherries for this recipe.

Spoon 1/3 cream cheese mixture into crumb base, top with half of the reserved cherries; repeat layering, ending with cheese mixture.

Refrigerate until just firm.

For the topping you will need cornflour, caster sugar and Cointreau or Grand Marnier. Cointreau is an orange flavoured liqueur.

Combine 1 tablespoon cornflour,

1 tablespoon of sugar,

And reserved cherry syrup in a small saucepan.

Stir over medium heat until the mixture boils and thickens.

Stir in Cointreau; cool 10 minutes.

Spread topping over cheesecake. Refrigerate overnight or until set.

Mine only took an hour or so to set.

Mmm look at those luscious layers.

My base was a bit thick but it still tasted yummy. The recipe is in the July issue of The Australian Women's Weekly.

Enjoy!

Baked Cheesecake

This is the first cheesecake I have ever made. Next time I will make a chilled cheesecake just to see how they compare. For this baked cheesecake you will need:
For the base-
1 1/4 cup sweet biscuit crumbs
80g butter, melted
For the filling-
3x 250g Kraft Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened
3/4 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon flour

I forgot to take pictures of the ingredients, sorry.

Ok first make your biscuit crumbs. I used a wooden spoon and a rolling pin to crumble them but you can use a food processor.

Mix the biscuit crumbs and butter together.


Press the crumbs into the base of a buttered and lined 22cm springform pan. Chill.

Beat the cream cheese and sugar together until smooth.

Add the eggs...

lemon juice...

and flour and beat until just combined.

Pour onto prepared crust...


smooth surface and bake in a 160 degree oven for 1 hour. If you have a fan forced oven, reduce temperature by 20 degrees.


A tip that I used was to place a small bowl of hot water at the bottom of the oven to creat a moist environment for the cheesecake. When the cheesecake is done, allow it to cool in the oven with the oven door ajar for one hour, then chill.

Have fun!