Blackcurrant Cheesecake
A tangy blackcurrant cheesecake that you can put together really quickly and tastes a lot better than the shop brought ones.
Ingredients
Blackcurrant Cheesecake Base
110g Digestive biscuits
50g Unsalted butter
Blackcurrant Cheesecake Filling
350g of cream cheese I make this as a combination of
(250g Mascarpone cheese and 100g Full fat cream cheese (e.g. Philadelphia) but any will do)
25g Caster sugar
Blackcurrent Cheesecake Topping
180g Fresh or Frozen Blackcurrants
45g Sugar
1 leaf of gelatine
Method
Blackcurrant Cheesecake Base
Melt the butter in a microwave safe bowl, I use the microwave for about 70 seconds at full power.
Place the digestive biscuits into a strong food bag, seal, and bash them to a fine crumb. I find rolling them with a rolling pin works very effectively.
Mix the digestive crumbs into the melted butter and stir until they are all coated.
Poor the crumb and spread evenly into a 20-23cm loose bottom circular baking tin, and push down firmly with a spoon or palm of your hand.
Place the tin into the fridge for about 30mins to set.
Blackcurrant Cheesecake Filling
Place all the cream cheese into a large mixing bowl.
Whisk all the ingredients together, it will feel quite strange but keep whisking and the ingredients will combine to quite a loose mix.
Pour the combined mixture evenly over the crumb base. Return to the fridge for 30-60mins.
Blackcurrant Cheesecake Topping
Place the blackcurrants and sugar in a saucepan, and warm up of a medium heat until the fruit has softened and the sugar dissolved.
Put the sheet of leaf gelatine into a bowl of cold water for 3-4minutes to soften.
Bring to a gentle simmer.
Take the leaf gelatine out the water and gently squeeze it. Add the leaf gelatine to the blackcurrant compote and stir in.
Leave to cool for at least 30minutes.
Poor the cooled mixture over the top of the cheesecake and spread the mixture evenly over. Leave in the fridge to chill for at least 4 hours and set before removing from the tin.
Hints and Tips
Serving Blackcurrant Cheesecake
If you want a more elegant way to service the cheesecake, make it in individual ramakin dishes or glasses. Just put a layer of biscuit, chill and then add your filling.
Reducing waste with Blackcurrant Cheesecake
The cheesecake keeps for several days if kept covered and in the fridge.
Cheesecake is great if you are trying to use up a packet of digestive biscuits, or you have a very broken packet. Also do not feel compelled to use the exactly same cheese mixture as described above, you could use entirely one type of cream cheese or mascarpone, and use quantities based on whatever you have to hand.