Black Forest Cheesecake

I am right back in the swing of things with this ridiculously rich and completely indulgent Black Forest Cheesecake. Confession time, this recipe is straight from Brown Eyed Baker and they only just published it last week. It popped up in my inbox and I immediately HAD to make it!

I may have slightly undercooked the cheesecake as it is very soft in the middle, but it has a mousse-like texture that is just divine. The dark chocolate makes the filling very rich, you can change it to milk chocolate if you prefer something a bit sweeter. The whipped cream is a little different too in that it contains cream cheese. I think this gives it a more stable quality and does not melt as easy. Enjoy this bad boy in moderation!

Black Forest Cheesecake

Adapted from Brown Eyed Baker

What you will need

For the crust
24 Oreo cookies
¼ cup unsalted butter, melted

For the filling
280g dark chocolate, chopped
900g cream cheese, at room temperature
1 1/2 cup sugar
¼ cup cocoa powder
4 eggs, at room temperature

For the cherry topping
600g bottled cherries
¼ cup sugar
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons cornflour
1 tablespoon lemon juice

For the whipped cream
100g cream cheese, at room temperature
¼ cup granulated sugar
¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup heavy cream

What you will need to do

Preheat oven to 180*C. Prepare a cheesecake tin by lining the bottom with baking paper and spraying the sides lightly with oil. Place the Oreo cookies into a food processor and pulse until they resemble fine crumbs. Add the melted butter and pulse until all combined. Press the mixture evenly into the base of the cheesecake tin and bake for about 8 minutes until the crust is set. Remove from oven and place on a cooling rack to cool down.

To make the filling, place the dark chocolate over a double boiler until melted then set aside to cool. Place the cream cheese into the bowl of a stand mixer and using the paddle attachment beat until soft. Add the sugar and cocoa powder and beat until light and fluffy. Gradually add the eggs to the mix beating well after each addition and scrapping down the sides every now and then too. Add the chocolate and mix until use combined. Pour the mixture over the base and smooth the top. Bake for about 1 hour or until the top of the cheesecake looks dry and there is still a bit of a wiggle in the middle. Once cooked, turn oven off, remove cheesecake and let cool to room temp on a cooling rack. Place cheesecake in fridge to chill overnight (or at least a couple of hours if you can resist it).

To make the Cherry topping, lightly drain cherries but reserve 1/4 cup of the juice. Place cherries in a saucepan with sugar and salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until starting to boil. Whisk the reserved juice with the cornflour and add it to the saucepan. Stir until thickened then remove from heat and stir in lemon juice. Let the mixture cool before putting it into an airtight container and storing it in the fridge until needed.

[NOTE: I would make the whipped cream when you are ready to assemble the cheesecake]
To make the whipped cream, place the cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat until soft. Add the sugar and vanilla and beat until well combined. Slowly add the cream and whisk on high until stiff peaks form.

To assemble the cheesecake! Remove the cheesecake from the fridge. Run a knife around the edge of the tin and remove the cheesecake from the tin. Place on a serving plate. Fill your piping bag with the whipped cream and pipe around the outside edge of the cheesecake. Spoon your cherry mixture into the middle of the cheesecake. Enjoy!

Mini Cookies and Cream White Chocolate Cheesecake

Ok so I saved the best for last, mini cookies and cream cheesecakes! Oreos make for the BEST chocolate cream biscuit to use for cookies and cream, I don't know what it is about them but they are simply the best (better than all the rest!). I decided to try something a little different with the bases this time and used a whole oreo cookie as the base. They fit perfectly into the bottoms of my cupcake tray!

One thing though, the edges of the cookie base went pretty soft after spending time in the fridge :( and some of the bases didn't come out of the tray very well. Next time I make them (and there will be plenty of next times!) I think I will make them in white cupcake papers. That way you wont lose any of the biscuit base when removing them from the tray. 

I found that these tasted better after being in the fridge for a couple of days. The cheesecake really firmed up and the cookie pieces went soft. Surprisingly the biscuit bottom stayed fairly firm, just the edges where there is no cream went soft. BTW how cute do the oreo bases look when cut open like that?? Yummo!!

This recipe also makes a great slice or cake so feel free to change it up. You will probably need to adjust the base but just follow this recipe for a solid oreo base. 

Mini Cookies and Cream White Chocolate Cheesecake

(Recipe adapted from Cookies and Cream Cheesecake from Nestle's Australia's Sweet Baking Favourites)

What you will need

 3 packets oreo biscuits

100g butter, melted

1 tsp gelatine

2 tbsp hot water

190g cream cheese

95ml condensed milk

150ml thickened cream

1/2 cup white chocolate, melted

What you will need to do

For the bases, place an oreo in the bottom of each cup in a silicone cupcake tray.

For the white chocolate cheesecake, place gelatin and hot water in a small bowl and mix until dissolved. In a separate bowl beat the cream cheese and condensed milk until smooth. Add cream, gelatin mix, melted white chocolate and beat until combined. Crush one and a half packets of oreos and add to the mix. Mix until combined. Spoon mixture on top of bases. Cut remaining oreos into quarters and place on top of each cheesecake. Place in fridge to set.

Mini Honeycomb White Chocolate Cheesecakes

Honeycomb, what glorious stuff! Crunchy and sweet and when chocolate coated, an absolute dream. I'm usually a creamy and soft kind of gal, but for honeycomb I make an exception. I used Cadbury Crunchie bars for this recipe but there are heaps of other great honeycomb confectionaries available you  could easily substitute for. 

The honeycomb that was mixed into the cheesecake went all melty after being in the fridge for a while. I liked it but it may not be everyone's cup of tea so consider yourselves warned! The oreo base is super rich so you could replace it with a plain biscuit base to eliminate some sweetness, urm but why would you want to...? Overall super delicious sweet little treat :)

Mini Honeycomb White Chocolate Cheesecake

(Recipe adapted from Cookies and Cream Cheesecake from Nestle's Australia's Sweet Baking Favourites)

What you will need

1 packet oreo biscuits

100g butter, melted

1 tsp gelatine

2 tbsp hot water

190g cream cheese

95ml condensed milk

150ml thickened cream

1/2 cup white chocolate, melted

3 Crunchie bars

What you will need to do

For the base, place a 12 cup cupcake silicon tray on a baking tray and set aside. Crush the oreo biscuits and mix with melted butter. Place a spoonful of mixture into each cup of the cupcake tray and press down firm (I used the end of a rolling pin to press them down hard). Place into fridge to set.

For the white chocolate cheesecake, place gelatin and hot water in a small bowl and mix until dissolved. In a separate bowl beat the cream cheese and condensed milk until smooth. Add cream, gelatin mix, melted white chocolate and beat until combined. Chop up 2 Crunchie bars into small pieces and add to the mix. Mix until combined. Spoon mixture on top of bases. Chop up the remaining Crunchie bar into big chunks and place a chunk of top of each cheesecake. Return to fridge to set.

Mini Jersey Caramel White Chocolate Cheesecake

Mmmm, jersey caramels are so underated. Delicious cubes of caramel and cream, what's not to love? But I find it so rare that they are incorporated into recipes. No longer is that the case! I added them to the base and the filling AND topped these little beauties off with them.

The caramels in the filling slightly softened and became a bit oozey, YUM! The ones in the base added a chewy surprise to every bite. If I had thought about it at the time I would have tried melting some jersey caramels and swirling them through the cheesecake mix instead of adding chunks, just for something different.

Mini Jersey Caramel White Chocolate Cheesecake

(Recipe adapted from Cookies and Cream Cheesecake from Nestle's Australia's Sweet Baking Favourites)

What you will need

1 packet jersey caramels, chopped into small pieces

1 packet plain biscuits

100g butter, melted

1 tsp gelatine

2 tbsp hot water

190g cream cheese

95ml condensed milk

150ml thickened cream

1/2 cup white chocolate, melted

Extra jersey caramels for tops

What you will need to do

For the base, place a 12 cup cupcake silicon tray on a baking tray and set aside. Crush the biscuits and mix with melted butter. Add a handful of chopped jersey caramels and mix to combine. Place a spoonful of mixture into each cup of the cupcake tray and press down firm (I used the end of a rolling pin to press them down hard). Place into fridge to set.

For the white chocolate cheesecake, place gelatin and hot water in a small bowl and mix until dissolved. In a separate bowl beat the cream cheese and condensed milk until smooth. Add cream, gelatin mix, melted white chocolate and beat until combined. Add the rest of the chopped jersey caramels. Pour mix onto bases. Top with extra jersey caramels chopped in half and place in fridge to set.

Mini White Chocolate Cheesecake

Okay so Choctober is almost over, thank god! My body hates me for all the chocolatey goodness I have been ingesting this month, I've had to take up swimming AND running just so I didn't completely balloon. This week I went a little crazy, cheesecake crazy. I made cute mini white chocolate cheesecakes, but that wasn't enough, I had to make a few variations with extra flavours thrown in. So the last couple of days of Choctober will be delicious little white chocolate cheesecake variations.

I used the same recipe from the Trifecta Cheesecake last week, but just used a plain biscuit base. I used a silicon cupcake tray to make these but I think they would be just as cute and probably less messy if you used cupcake papers. I also discovered while taking photos of these that photos of white foods are really hard to do well :( so shiny!

Mini White Chocolate Cheesecake

(Recipe adapted from Cookies and Cream Cheesecake from Nestle's Australia's Sweet Baking Favourites)

What you will need

1 packet plain biscuits

100g butter, melted

1 tsp gelatine

2 tbsp hot water

190g cream cheese

95ml condensed milk

150ml thickened cream

1/2 cup white chocolate, melted

What you will need to do

For the base, place a 12 cup cupcake silicon tray on a baking tray and set aside. Crush the biscuits and mix with melted butter. Place a spoonful of mixture into each cup of the cupcake tray and press down firm (I used the end of a rolling pin to press them down hard). Place into fridge to set.

For the white chocolate cheesecake, place gelatin and hot water in a small bowl and mix until dissolved. In a separate bowl beat the cream cheese and condensed milk until smooth. Add cream, gelatin mix, melted white chocolate and beat until combined. Pour mix onto bases and place in fridge to set.

Trifecta Chocolate Cheesecake Slice

I've never made cheesecake using condensed milk. Some of you are probably thinking 'WAHHH??' others are probably like 'yeah so?'. Well I wanted to know what I was missing out on, so this weekend I made a white chocolate cheesecake on a milk chocolate filling on a dark chocolate base, the trifecta of chocolates!

I wasn't completely overwhelmed by the result of the condensed milk cheesecake, i've made better, but it still turned out nice and tasted great. It was a bit softer and runnier than other cheesecakes i've made which can be a bit frustrating when getting it out of the tin, but hey it's still delicious!

I altered a recipe for Rum n Raisin slice from my Nestle cookbook for the base and chocolate layer and a recipe for cookies and cream cheesecake for the cheesecake layer. The white chocolate cheesecake layer is so versatile you can add just about anything to it to create a completely new cheesecake. 

Trifecta Chocolate Cheesecake Slice

What you will need

For the base

1/2 cup plain flour

1 tbsp cocoa

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup desicated coconut

115g butter, melted

1/2 cup dark choc chips

For the chocolate filling

3/4 cup milk choc melts

115ml thickened cream

1 egg, lightly beaten

For the white chocolate cheesecake

1 tsp gelatine

2 tbsp hot water

190g cream cheese

95ml condensed milk

150ml thickened cream

1/2 cup white chocolate, melted

Extra choc-chips, milk, dark and white

What you will need to do

Pre heat oven to 180*C. Line a loaf tin with baking paper. For the base, place all ingredients into a bowl and mix until combined. Press mixture into prepared loaf tin and bake in oven for 15 minutes or until browned. Leave out to cool.

For the chocolate filling, place chocolate and cream in a bowl. Melt over pan of simmering water until smooth. Put aside to cool slightly. Mix in egg then pour onto base. Bake for a further 20 mins or until set. Take out and cool.

For the white chocolate cheesecake, place gelatin and hot water in a small bowl and mix until dissolved. In a separate bowl beat the cream cheese and condensed milk until smooth. Add cream, gelatin mix, melted white chocolate and beat until combined. Pour on top of chocolate mix. Sprinkle extra choc-chips on top and put into fridge to set.