Guest Post : White chocolate raspberry cheesecake

When you move out of home, step foot into the real world (my year long German exchange does not count - that was a temporary lala land dream world) and finally grow up like I have just done, you realise your day becomes busier. You have to go to work, buy food, prepare food, clean up, water the garden, fit in a walk, clean the floor with a strange new machine called a vaccum, wash clothes in a machine called a washing machine, try to figure out whether a light blue shirt belongs in colours or whites, attempt to iron the same light blue shirt, take heavy wheelie bins out to the curb, kill bugs that are crawling over the floor etc etc. And then, you still have to find time to blog! So today whilst I go and undertake the above activities, I present to you, the second guest post on my blog.

Today's guest post is written by my little sister, Miss J. Since I moved out of home, Miss J has picked up such hobbies as cooking, baking, photography and pushing in front of people in queues  I think she is turning into me! Except for the 'no grains' bit - her contribution to this blog contains grains. When I tasted the cake, I simply at the grain free top:) 

Hi Everyone,

This is my first very first food post, and I have the honour of having a guest post on ‘Fruit Salad and Mixed Veg’

Firstly I will introduce myself. I am a 22 year old Laboratory Medicine graduate who will soon be working as a research assistant. Since finishing university in November I have discovered I have time for hobbies! Hobbies are a new thing for me, as I’ve mainly spent my time studying before this break. My new hobbies are baking, cooking, and most recently photography.

As part of my new job, I was invited along to a Christmas dinner. I haven’t actually started working there yet, so I thought baking something nice would be a good start to getting the team to like my company. I had a look online and found this recipe from Exclusively Food, for a baked white chocolate and raspberry cheesecake. This is also the first cheesecake I have ever baked.

I made the addition of raspberries in the cake, just for something a little bit more special. These could be replaced with other berries, or omitted for a plain white chocolate cheesecake.

I have eaten a few cheesecakes in my 22 years of life, and I have to say, the base can make or break the cake. I’ve had a look at other recipes which suggest using ground almonds, which as most of you would know gets quite expensive when you need a full cake base. I found the Nice Biscuits worked well, and gave an almost caramel finish once baked, they are also a bargain at around $1.50 for 250g.

I have taken the recipe on the website and adjusted it a few times, and this is what I found worked best. For best results, use a spring form tin, this way you won’t need to pull the cake out of the tin, you can simply detach the side.

White chocolate raspberry cheesecake

The cake will last a few days if kept refrigerated in an airtight container.

What you need

Base:

• 250g Nice Biscuits ( Arnott’s Brand are great, but Coles homebrand worked just as well)
• 130g butter – I found that 120g didn’t moisten the biscuits enough for the base to stick together.

Filling:

• 375g Creamcheese
• 1/3 Cup Caster Sugar
• 3 Large eggs
• 200g White Chocolate
• 250g Sour Cream
• ½ Tsp Vanilla Extract

What you need to do

1. Preheat your oven to 160 degrees if your oven is not fanforced, and 145 degrees if it is fanforced. Crush the nice biscuits in whichever method is most convenient, a food processor is ideal however other methods I found also effective included - placing biscuits into a plastic bag, folded in a clean tea towel and then crushing them with a chopping board/rolling pin. Note this method is very loud and may disturb small children/neighbours.
2. One crushed, line the cake tin (20cm Diameter) with baking paper and mix the biscuits with the butter.
3. Press the biscuit mixture into the base of the tin ( You can also do the sides, however I found it incredibly difficult to create the sides equal in height and depth). Place in the fridge to harden.
4. Beat the Creamcheese with the sugar. Once smooth, add the eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly between additions.
5. Melt the White Chocolate in a small bowl over a small saucepan of boiling water.
6. Once the chocolate is completely melted ( do not burn), add the sour cream to the chocolate, mixing thouroughly.
7. Add the chocolate mixture to the creamcheese mixture along with the vanilla essence and beat until combined.
8. Take the cake tin from the fridge. Raspberries will be added at 2 levels in the cake, use about a handful each time. Pour the mixture into the tin, just enough to cover the base, add raspberries. Repeat, this time covering the layer of raspberries. Pour the remainder of the mixture over the top, covering all of the raspberries.
9. Bake the cheesecake for approximately one hour. I have a non-fanforced oven and found it needed around an extra 10 minutes, just until the edge went a golden-brown.
10. Once baked, stand the cheesecake at room temperature for one hours, then refrigerate for at least one hour. This prevents the cake from splitting when removed from the tin.
11. To serve, add additional raspberries on top of the cake. Enjoy with a hot coffee or tea.