I always get a little nervous when making unbaked cheesecakes – I fear that when I turn it out the filling won’t have set and will all run out across the table. To ensure this doesn’t happen I usually put in a little more gelatine than required – so by all means put in the one tablespoon as listed below, or you can be like me and use a very rounded tablespoonful. As with all unbaked cheesecakes you must make sure the cream cheese is at room temperature before you use it, otherwise it simply won’t blend and you will end up with tiny flecks of cream cheese. My son requested a peppermint chocolate cheesecake for his birthday so I came up with this. No need to go a crazy as we did in the pictures in terms of the chocolates on the top, do whatever you fancy.
Ingredients
Base
125 grams melted butter
250 grams crushed chocolate ripple biscuits
Filling
500 grams light cream cheese
300 grams thickened cream
100 grams sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon peppermint essence
Few drops green food colouring
1 tablespoon gelatine powder
1/3 cup water
Decoration
Minty, chocolatey treats of your choice – I used peppermint crisps, mint slice biscuits, Darrel Lea’s choc mint balls and a block of Cadbury’s peppermint chocolate
Method
- Grease and line a springform baking tin – to make it easier to remove the cake also put a ring of paper around the edge, not just the base. Blend the biscuits and butter, and press firmly in the tin making sure you go a little up the sides. This doesn’t make a massive amount of filling, so no need to go too high up. Place in the fridge to set.
- Beat the cream and set aside. Beat the cream cheese, then incorporate the beaten cream, sugar, lemon juice, essence and green food colouring. Beat until very well combined, there should be no lumps at all. Whisk the gelatine into the boiling water and beat into the cheesecake. Pour into the tin and allow to set, preferable overnight.
- Just before serving remove from the fridge to decorate. Place on a serving plate. Chop up the chocolates as desired, and decorate however you want. Then serve, and hope there are leftovers for you to eat when the guests have gone home.