Wednesday 12 December 2012

Festive Cheesecake













Remember those cute little Baby Cheesecakes I introduced you to a while ago? Well meet Mamma. All dressed up for a party. Isn't she beautiful?

PS. I took half of it to a friends house so it could haunt them instead of me.

NOTE: You'll need to begin this recipe a day ahead.



Festive Cheesecake
adapted from Nigella Lawson's How to be a Domestic Goddess

For the Base:
150g shortbread biscuits
75g unsalted butter (melted or very soft)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

For the Filling:
600g cream cheese
150g gcaster sugar
3 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
11/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
11/2 tablespoon lemon juice

For the Topping:
150ml sour cream
1 tablespoon caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

To Decorate:
I used:
Ferrero Rafaello
Red and green jelly beans
Red and Green chocolate baubles
White sprinkles
White mini marshmallows
White chocolate truffles

Make the Base:
Process the biscuits until they are like crumbs, then add cinnamon and the butter and pulse again. Line the bottom of a 20cm springform tin, pressing the biscuits in with your hands or the back of a spoon. Put the tin in the fridge to set, and preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.

Make the Filling:Beat the cream cheese in the bowl of an electric mixer gently until it's smooth, then add the sugar. Beat in the eggs and egg yolks, then finally the vanilla and lemon juice. Put the kettle on.

Line the outside of the chilled tin with strong foil so that it covers the bottom and sides in one large piece, and then do the same again and put it into a roasting dish. This will protect the cheesecake from the water as it is cooked in its water bath.

Pour the cream-cheese filling into the chilled biscuit base, and then pour hot water from the recently boiled kettle into the roasting tin around the cheesecake. It should come about halfway up; don't overfill as it will be difficult to lift up the tin. Put it into the oven and cook for 50 minutes. It should feel set, but not rigidly so: you just need to feel confident that when you pour the sour cream over, it will sit on the surface and not sink in. 

Make the Topping:
Whisk together the sour cream, sugar and vanilla for the topping and pour over the cheesecake. Put it back in the oven for a further 10 minutes.

Take the roasting tin out of the oven, then gingerly remove the tin from the water, unwrap it and stand it on a rack to cool. When it's cooled down completely, put it in the fridge, removing it 20 minutes before eating to take the chill off. Unmould it and decorate with a collection of appropraitely festive baubles and sprinkles.

When you cut into it, plunge a knife in hot water first.



10 comments:

  1. Oh cheesecake. How beautiful is it!!! With the chocolate and the candy...it's really festive :) I'm sure that it was delicious too :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a gorgeous cake! Looks almost too good to eat... ALMOST. Because I want to eat that now.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Looks wonderful and very, very high in calories...but a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do. One skinny slice wouldn't hurt now would it?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks Gabrielle. My friends really enjoyed it. It's a classic dessert.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hey Patty, Yes, very high in calories... what more can I say LOL!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Gorgeous and fun, fun, fun!! Sorry I've been AWOL for a while, I've been keeping up, just haven't had much time for anything other than looking...looking and salivating..
    Hope you and your family have a very Merry Christmas Jen!!
    Leah

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hey Little Kitchie. You're right, ALMOST too good to eat, the only thing left is the photos :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love the decor of this cake as Christmas! it's a shame not easily find these cookies in Spain for the base. I shared your recipe on facebook and comments suggesting that it could put the button of translation into other languages ​​such as Spanish. I really appreciate it!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hey Dulce. Thank you so much for your comment and for sharing this post on Facebook, I really appreciate it. I have added the translate button onto my blog, thanks for suggesting it :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hey Leah. Thank you and I hope you and your family have a very happy Christmas.

    Eat, drink and be Merry !

    Jen xxxx

    ReplyDelete