Milk and White Chocolate Cheesecake

The perfect treat to enjoy during those few days of sunshine the UK's had this week. But I'm sure this would taste great whatever the weather. It should come with a warning though... this is a calorific recipe so if you are trying to lose weight I would recommend you steer clear of this one! I tried to use low fat versions of the ingredients wherever possible but I don't think this helped much! This is another recipe taken from one of my favourite baking books: Outsider Tart's Baked in America.


Ingredients

Biscuit base

• 160g plain flour
• 4 tbsp cocoa
• 6 tbsp granulated sugar
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 115g unsalted butter
• 2 egg yolks

Cheesecake batter

• 900g cream cheese
• 280g granulated sugar
• 3 tbsp corn flour
• 5 eggs
• 225g sour cream
• 240ml double cream
• 225g milk chocolate
• 225g white chocolate

Before you start baking, preheat the oven to 180 degrees and get all ingredients and equipment out in front of you. You will need at least 3 large bowls and a springform cake tin. Butter your tin and wrap the bottom with tin flour to help avoid spillages.

For the cheesecake base, measure out the flour, cocoa, sugar and baking powder into a bowl. Melt the butter slightly in the microwave and then stir into the mixture. At this point you could take the easy option of an electric whisk or use some elbow grease by mixing it with a wooden spoon! Now stir in the egg yolks until it is all thoroughly combined and resembles biscuit dough. Now press into the bottom of your springform tin, making sure that it comes slightly up the sides. Pierce with a fork a few times and then bake in the oven for about 15 mins. Take it out and leave to cool whilst you prepare the filling. 

Now mix the cream cheese in a large bowl with a wooden spoon until smooth, then gradually stir in the sugar and cornflour. Now add the eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly before the next one is added. Then add the sour cream and double cream. At this point I realised that I needed to be using a larger bowl to avoid it spilling over the top, so I'd strongly recommend using the largest bowl possible for this bit. Once the mixture is completely combined, you need to divide it into two bowls to create separate milk and white chocolate cheesecake batters.

Break up one type of the chocolate, melt and then mix into one of the separated batters. Now do the same with the other type of chocolate and add to the other batter. It's now time to assemble your cheesecake. Pour half of the milk chocolate mixture onto the biscuit base, then hold the white chocolate batter 30cm above before pouring into the centre. This should force the previous milk chocolate batter towards the sides. Now alternate with the remaining batters in the same way to create rings of milk and white chocolate cheesecake. As you can see, mine didn't quite have the desired effect and seemed to blend to create one light brown cheesecake so I think I still need a bit more practice at this technique!

Once you have assembled your cheesecake, it needs to bake for approximately 1 hour. Don't worry if it cracks at the edges, this is normal. After 1 hour, I checked on my cheesecake and was surprised to see the centre was still quite liquidy so I baked it for a further 15 mins. When I checked it again it still jiggled more than I would expect it to but took it out as the recipe states that this is ok because 'it will set as it cools'! Leave on the worksurface to cool overnight before refrigerating. I let mine cool slightly before covering with clingfilm as I didn't want it to melt to the pan but was also uncomfortable with leaving my cheesecake uncovered in the kitchen overnight!

After refrigerating it for the rest of the next day, I then served it as an evening treat. However, I was unsure of its success as the centre resembled more of an unbaked cheesecake and not what was shown in the recipe picture. Despite this, everyone agreed that it still tasted great! Have a go yourself and let me know if you get your entire cheesecake to set or have any tips of your own!