Happy Valentines Day!! For Valentines Day, I have made a glorious Double Choc Fudge Cheesecake by Michelle Southan from the February 2013 edition of Australian Good Taste magazine. Isn't it gorgeous? It is a chocolate brownie base, topped with white chocolate cheesecake, then raspberry cheesecake, then another layer of white chocolate cheesecake. Finally, it is stencilled with cocoa using the free stencil that came with the magazine. Bliss! And it tasted as good as it looks.
Here is a side view of the four layers:
Tempted? To make this cheesecake, you will need:
Base
60ml hot water
50g chopped dark chocolate
40g butter
2 tsp self-raising flour
2 tbs cocoa powder
1 lightly whisked egg
Preheat your oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Grease and line the base and sides of an 18cm springform pan as smoothly as possible with baking paper, so that the paper rises 2cm above the rim of the pan.
Heat the water, chocolate and butter in a microwave on high, stirring once every minute, until the chocolate melts and the mixture is smooth. (yes, this sounds like madness, but trust me, it works.) Add the sugar, flours, cocoa powder and egg and mix well. Pour into the prepared springform pan and bake for 30 minutes or until cooked through. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.
White chocolate cheesecake
500g cream cheese, at room temperature
100g sugar
125ml thickened cream
200g melted white chocolate
2 tsp vanilla
80ml boiling water
2 tsp gelatine
Raspberry cheesecake
100g thawed frozen raspberries
250g cream cheese, at room temperature
55g sugar
60ml thickened cream
2 tbs boiling water
1 tsp gelatine
To make the first layer of white chocolate cheesecake, beat together half the cream cheese and half the sugar until smooth. Beat in half each of the cream, melted chocolate and vanilla. Put half the water in a heatproof bowl and sprinkle over half the gelatine. Stir until the gelatine is dissolved, and allow to cool for 1 minute before beating into the cream cheese mixture. Pour the cheesecake mixture over the cooled brownie base, cover the top of the tin with cling film, and place the tin in the fridge for 1 hour to allow the cheesecake to set.
To make the raspberry layer, mash the raspberries in a bowl with a fork, then press the berries through a sieve and discard the seeds. Beat the cream cheese and sugar together until smooth, then beat in the raspberry puree and cream. Put the boiling water in a heatproof bowl and sprinkle over the gelatine, then stir until the gelatine has dissolved. Allow the gelatine mixture to cool for 1 minute, then beat into the cream cheese mixture. Pour the raspberry cheesecake over the white chocolate cheesecake layer, cover the top of the tin with cling film, and refrigerate for one hour to allow the layer to set.
Make the final white chocolate layer in the same way as the first, using the remaining white cheesecake ingredients. Pour the white chocolate cheesecake over the raspberry layer, cover the top of the tin with clingfilm, and refrigerate for 4-6 hours until set. (I refrigerated it overnight and the and the cheesecake was well set by morning.)
To serve, you can optionally place a pretty stencil lightly against the top of the cheesecake, and then dust over the top of it thoroughly with cocoa powder in a sieve. Remove the stencil carefully so as to preserve the pattern, then take the cheesecake to the table to wow your guests with its beauty. (I missed the latter part, as I was taking mine to work.) Cut into slices with a warm knife to serve:
This cheesecake is sweet, smooth and silky, and very dangerous to have in the house. By taking it to work, I could indulge in one decent sized slice, knowing that there would not be another, and enjoy it I did.
What are you doing for your beloved this Valentines Day, if you celebrate it?
