My baked white chocolate cheesecake is somewhat of a party pleaser as it wins over the few who begrudgingly refrain from desserts. It’s mildly sweet and pairing it with citrus helps cut through perfectly. In my opinion, a baked cheesecake is tremendously better than a chilled one and well worth the effort. Admittedly, it isn’t as easy as whipping up a batch of cookie dough or choux pastry but the step by step process of the recipe is extremely therapeutic and rewarding. There’s a hint of white chocolate as I sparingly use it even though it is a white chocolate cheesecake. A load of white chocolate results in an extremely heavy cheesecake wherein the flavor of the cheese as well as the citrus fruit is lost. Albeit the recipe calls for a lot of patience as post baking, the cake is required to sit for an hour till the temperature gradually settles before being refrigerated. Over-working the batter can result in a weak cheesecake, which sinks in the center as it’s incapable of holding its structure. This might seem scary to a fresh baking enthusiast, however the skill and patience picked up from baking one’s first cheesecake prepares them well for pursuing trickier recipes which require patience.
White Chocolate Cheesecake
Ingredients
100gm Digestive biscuits
50gm Butter, unsalted
125gm White chocolate
125ml Fresh cream
200gm Cream cheese
200 gm Mascarporne
4tbsp Golden castor sugar
2tsp. Vanilla extract
4nos. Eggs
125ml Lemon Juice
Lemon Zest
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180 C. Grease a 8 inch diameter springform cake tin.
- Crush the digestive biscuits in a food processor. Melt the butter in a pan and pour into the food processor. Blend the biscuits and butter until thoroughly mixed.
- Spoon the mix into the cake tin and using the back of the spoon, leaven the base out.
- Bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool and reduce the oven temperature to 150 C.
- Break the white chocolate in a heat proof glass bowl. Heat the cream in a sauce pan, until it simmers but not rapidly boiling. Pour the cream over the chocolate and stir until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, cream the mascarporne and cream cheese until smooth. Do not over mix.
- Fold in the sugar, vanilla and egg yolks one at a time. Gently fold in the white chocolate mix, lemon zest and lemon juice.
- In a separate clean dry bowl, whisk the egg whites to a soft peak and fold into the batter vigorously until smooth.
- Pour the mix into the cake tin and bake for 1 hour until risen and set. The center will wobble a bit.
- Turn off the oven and leave the cake to cool inside for and hour with the door slightly ajar.
- Chill in the refrigerator overnight.
And your yummy white baked chocolate cheesecake will be ready to serve :)
Recipe Credits - Manjushree Bhandari
