Chocolate Orange Cheesecake

I to love Chocolate Orange. They seem to always come out around Christmas time and incorporating this into a Cheesecake makes for a perfect winter dessert. I love making Cheesecakes as it’s one of the favourite desserts and they are so simple to make. There’s sooo many flavours as well I want to try out and experiment with. This one was yet another success and was so quick to whip up!

The key to making the best cheesecake is just ensuring your whipped cream has been whipped enough. Ensure it resembles soft peaks (so has some stiffness to it) before folding into your cream cheese. Another big tip is get the biscuit base as cold as possible before pouring on the filling. I like to put mine in freezer whilst I make the filling to ensure it fully sets in time. When using chocolate as well, if it’s been melted down ensure you leave it to cool slightly before mixing in- this will avoid it melting your cheese and making the mix too runny

Cheesecakes are a great dessert to decorate as well and you can make them look really impressive. I just did squirty cream and chocolate orange segments, but you could melt down some chocolate orange and pipe it on the cheesecake. Or even break up the chocolate into pieces to can sprinkle on the top, or buy some orange sprinkles!

This works great as a dessert if you have people over this winter and is a big load of comfort food!

Recipe was adapted and inspired by Jane’s Patisserie

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Biscuit Base:

• 300g Hobnobs
• 150g Margarine/Butter

Filling:

• 375g Cream Cheese
• 225ml Double Cream
• 55g Icing Sugar
• 225g of Chocolate Orange

Decoration:

• I used squirty cream and 12 segments of chocolate orange

Method:

1. Line a 20cm spring form cake tin with greaseproof paper
2. Melt the butter in the microwave by putting it in for 30 seconds at a time and stirring until completely melted
3. Bash the biscuits up using a plastic bag and a rolling pin until there are no big chunks.
4. Combine the biscuit and butter and then put in the cake tin. Press down firmly on the biscuit to spread it out evenly on the base. Place in the freezer whilst you make your filling
5. Break up your chocolate into small chunks into a pyrex bowl. To melt it either place the bowl over a pan of simmering water. Or melt in the microwave by putting in for short bursts and stirring. Leave to cool whilst you make the remainder of the filling.
6. In a separate bowl whisk together the cream cheese and icing sugar.
7. In another bowl use a handheld electric whisk to beat your double cream. Whisk until it becomes slightly stiff and forms soft peaks which hold slightly.
8. Fold in your cream into the cream cheese mix. Then fold in the cooled chocolate. Once well combined pour on top of your biscuit base and spread evenly using a back of a spoon.
9. Place your cheesecake in the fridge for at least 6 hours or over night
10. Decorate the top as you wish!