My speciality

White chocolate and raspberry cheesecake. My favourite thing to make and my family's favourite thing to eat. It's so smooth and creamy and sweet... and just yummy! It's the perfect pudding for celebrations, so it's quite fitting to have today, on my Bloggy-Birthday-Anniversary type thing :)

I can't remember where I found the recipe for this, but I've made it tons of times so I know it by heart. I don't even measure anymore. I've tweaked the mixture along the way - like for the base I always use all chocolate digestives, sometimes I mix some chopped white chocolate buttons in the filling so that it has an extra bite to it, and sometimes I use half clotted cream and half whipping cream (which is absolutely GORGEOUS!) I'll give you the original recipe though - do with it as you please!

For the biscuit base 

75g plain digestive biscuits

75g ginger biscuits

(I use 150g milk chocolate digestives instead)

75g unsalted butter

For the filling 

400-600g white chocolate (the richer tasting chocolate, the less you'll need)

65g unsalted butter

1/2 vanilla pod (or you could use a few drops of vanilla extract)

500g Philidelphia cream cheese (I use mascarpone cheese instead because I don't like Philly when it's used in a dessert. Sometimes I use 250g mascarpone and 250g ricotta)

50g caster sugar

180ml whipping cream

1 punnet Raspberries

Method

Biscuit base  

1. My favourite part of the recipe - crush up the biscuits. I stick them in a sandwich bag and whack it with a rolling pin until I have crumbs. It's very therapeutic y'know! I don't annihilate them completely - I like a mixture of crumbs and chunks. I then melt the butter and mix it all together. I love using chocolate digestives because the butter melts with the little chocolate crumbs, so it makes a yummy chocolatey base.

2. Press it firmly into the base of a springform tin (the ones with a clip on the side) then put it in the fridge or freezer to set whilst you make the filling. I normally use the freezer because it's quicker.

Filling

1. Put the cream cheese into a bowl and soften slightly. I find softening the cheese first eliminates the risk of lumps. Lumpy cheesecake is not good! Next, beat in the sugar and then beat in the whipping cream until you have a smooth consistency.  Don't whip the cream first, just pour it in. The only reason you need whipping cream is so that it sets thicker, but if you whip it, the cheesecake has a grainy texture.

2. Break the chocolate into pieces and put into a bain marie (just a heatproof bowl placed over a simmering pan of water). You can chop up 100g and add that to the cheese mixture instead if you want - that adds a nice bite and texture to an otherwise soft filling. Add the butter and vanilla to the bowl of chocolate and melt them all together.

3. Once it's all melted and smooth, remove the vanilla pod (if using) then stir the chocolate mixture into the cheese mixture.

4. Fold in the raspberries. Be careful not to squish them otherwise you'll get a runny mushy mixture. Yuck!

5. Resist the urge to eat it as it is!

6. Get your base from the fridge/freezer, and spoon your cheesecake mixture over the top. Bang the tin on the counter a few times (lightly!) to settle it, then shove it in the fridge for 8 or so hours to set. I often can't resist and take it out of the fridge 4 hours later to have a slice, just to check if it's set you see, but the longer you leave it the yummier it tastes.

7. Enjoy!

Let me know if you try this recipe. It's my absolute favourite and so simple to make. It tastes like heaven on a plate - orgasmic even :)

And since it's been a whole year since I started blogging, I wanted to thank every one of you who follows or reads my blog and have taken the time to comment. I really do appreciate it - the interaction is what I enjoy most about blogging so lots of love and thanks to you guys :)

xoxo