White Chocolate and Raspberry Cheesecake

Cooked up by Charlotte White of Restoration Cake
cake-blog-headshotI absolutely love raspberries. More than anything, I love the way that they complement chocolate so perfectly.
Whether with a rich dark chocolate or a creamy, sweet white chocolate, the tartness of that raspberry adds another layer of deliciousness to any dessert.

I have inflicted this particular cheesecake recipe on my friends and family for years now and can honestly say that there is rarely ever a slice leftover and often a call for second helpings! The great thing about this recipe is that the chocolate does all of the hard work for you in setting the cheesecake. You do not need to even think about switching the oven on, you don't have to fuss around filling a roasting tin with water, and the recipe is suitable for vegetarians too as there is no need for gelatine.

You will need at least one punnet of raspberries for this recipe but I often use two punnets as I like a lot of fruit and these are so often on BOGOF! If you are preparing this dessert for grown-ups, I strongly recommend that you soak your raspberries overnight in Creme de Framboise.

You will need to drain the raspberries before you add them to the cheesecake but save the liquor along with a handful of spare raspberries to add to a glass of Prosecco before dinner as a cheeky taste of what is to come!

Ingredients
200g chocolate chip cookies
75g unsalted butter, melted
450g white chocolate
55g golden caster sugar
350g cream cheese
425ml double cream
2 punnets of raspberries

Method

1) Blitz the cookies in a food processor or smash them up in a freezer bag. Mix the cookie crumbs with the melted butter and combine into a wet sandy rubble. Press this mixture into a lightly oiled dish and put this in the fridge to set for an hour.

2) Melt the white chocolate and set it aside to cool and little while you work. Chocolate can be melted safely in the microwave if you go slowly – set the microwave to a medium low heat and check with a stirring every minute. The chocolate is ready when only a few lumps remain. With a little stirring, these last few lumps will melt in the residual heat of the melted chocolate.

3) Beat the sugar into the cream cheese (seriously, don't bother with low fat options here, this one is not for dieters!). In a separate bowl, whip the double cream until it makes very soft peaks and then fold this into the cream cheese mixture. Try to go gently here as you do not want the mixture to be too heavy.

4) Now for the fun bit... Pour the melted white chocolate into the mixture and stir very gently to bring it all together. Throw in your raspberries and continue to stir until they are evenly distributed. Some of the raspberries will break up slightly, leaving the cheesecake mix a glorious blend of pinks and whites.

5) Dollop the cheesecake mixture onto the prepared biscuit base and pop the whole thing back into the fridge for at least two hours... if you can wait that long! The cheesecake needs this cooling time to firm up nicely. I do recommend that you take the cheesecake out of the fridge at the same time as you serve up your main course to allow a little of the wobble to return to it by dessert time! Cut into generous slices and serve with a little crème fraiche and a glass of bubbly.


Charlotte White is a professional cake designer based in London. Her company, Restoration Cake, has a reputation for creating stunning bespoke celebration cakes that taste as good as they look. Charlotte's first book is due for release in Spring 2014. www.restorationcake.co.uk