No Bake Chocolate Orange Marbled Popping Cheesecake

New Year's is upon us, and of course so is another feast. In my family you 'go big or go home' as the Americans say and as we haven't cooked a big meal ourselves yet all of Christmas we are taking over New Year's instead with a big turkey dinner England style which is tradition here for this holiday.

So of course I couldn't leave out dessert. As I'm in a kitchen that isn't my own I thought I would go for something easy that didn't need baking but would still taste immense. I love cheesecake, I would eat it every day if my heart would allow so I made an extra indulgent one for the feast. Chocolate orange marbled popping cheese cake in fact!

I made the filling in two halves, one with the juice from an orange and the other with melted chocolate and even more chocolate grated into it for some texture. The chocolate shards on top is simply melted chocolate mixed with orange popping candy, I would have added it to the non chocolate half but this popping candy changes colour...into green...and I thought the mouldy look would probably not be the best...

 

I also added these cute little chocolate shapes, you get them a lot here on their cakes in bakeries and can get them in the shop. As I use a lot of Norwegian recipes they feature a lot and I'm always gutted when I have to leave them without. I think I'll stuff my hand-luggage with them before I go back :D

Recipe:

• 200g chocolate digestive biscuits
• 50g butter, melted
• 300g cream cheese
• 250g Crème Fraîche
• 25g caster sugar
• 1 pack orange popping candy
• 200g dark chocolate
• juice of 1/2 orange

Method:

1. Crush the biscuits in a plastic bag, bash it to smitherines until it's like breadcrumbs. Don't worry if there's some lumps left they only add chocolatey texture :)
2. Chuck them in a mixing bowl and add the butter and mix, press into dish or springform cake take, about 8inches. Leave to chill for 15 minutes, as it's about -2 here I put mine outside in a bag!
3. Mix the cream cheese, crème fraîche and sugar until smooth and beautifully soft.
4. Divide into two bowls, melt the chocolate and add 2/3 into one half of the mixture and stir like crazy.
5. Mix the popping candy into the remaining chocolate and spread out onto baking paper on a plate and place in the fridge until hard.
6. Add the orange juice to the plain mix, you can always add more if you don't think the flavour is strong enough and mix until incorporated.
7. Add dollops of each mix in the dish so the colours are mixed up, not too much chocolate in the same place and same with the plain.
8. Using a palette knife marble the two colours together and smooth out a little.
9. Take the popping candy chocolate out of the fridge and break up into shards. Stick these in the cheesecake and add the chocolate shapes, or any other decoration you have to give it some va-vav-voom!
10. Chill...I do mine overnight but I'm sure about 3 hours would be fine.
11. Eat! Nom!

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Double Chocolate Cheesecake

I promised you this recipe a couple of weeks ago and I shall deliver! My brother actually made this for me for my birthday. As you can imagine I make A LOT of sponge, so when it came to my birthday it was really the last thing I wanted to eat, so I asked for a cheesecake! And I have to say without a doubt this is the best cheesecake I have ever eaten. Definite Nom!

I love cheesecake - a ridiculous amount and if it wasn't so calorific I would eat it everyday without question. So words cannot explain how happy I was to get this on my birthday, I cut myself a mahoosive piece and another one later in the evening and it wasn't too long until we had demolished it, I don't think it survived the week.

He got the recipe from BBC Good Food an adapted it a little so I'll mention where and what he swapped.

Ingredients

FOR THE BISCUIT CRUST

• 85g hot melted butter , plus a little extra for greasing
• 14 plain chocolate digestives, finely crushed (he used half Bourbon biscuits)

FOR THE CHEESECAKE

• 3 x 300g packs full-fat Philadelphia cheese , at room temperature (changed for one third mascapone and two thirds cream cheese)
• 200g golden caster sugar
• 4 tbsp cocoa , sifted
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 tbsp Tia Maria (changed for a shot of espresso -which I thought I'd hate but loved as didn't get just pure coffee through)
• 3 large eggs
• 284ml pot soured cream (didn't include)
• 100g bar dark coffee chocolate , melted (changed for Green & Blacks milk chocolate)
• 2-3 tbsp milk
• 284ml pot double cream
• chocolate curls to decorate (optional, see Tip below) 

Method

1. Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Line the base of a 25cm springform tin with baking parchment. Mix the melted butter and biscuit crumbs until well blended, then press firmly onto the base of the tin. Bake for 10 mins.
2. Turn oven temperature up to 240C/fan 220C/gas 9. Beat the cream cheese and sugar with an electric whisk until smooth and creamy, then whisk in the cocoa, vanilla, Tia Maria, eggs, soured cream and half the melted chocolate. Stir enough milk into the remaining chocolate to make a sauce consistency, then set aside until ready to decorate the cheesecake.
3. Put a little melted butter on some kitchen paper and use it to butter the sides of the cake tin. Pour in the cheese mixture, then smooth the top. Bake for 10 mins, then turn the heat down to 110C/fan 90C/gas ¼ for 25-30 mins. The filling should be set, but with a wobble in the centre. Turn off the oven, open the door a crack, then leave the cheesecake to cool in the oven for 2 hrs. Chill until ready to serve.
4. To decorate the cheesecake, carefully remove it from the tin and strip the lining paper from the base. Lightly whip the cream until it just holds its shape, then swirl it on top and drizzle with the reserved chocolate sauce, rippling the sauce through the cream with the end of a spoon. Serve as is or pile with chocolate curls, if you've made them. 
5. Eat! Nom!

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