Raspberry And White Chocolate Cheesecake

Ingredients

250gm plain biscuits,

150 gm butter,

2 cups (200 gm) frozen raspberries,

1 tbsp icing sugar,

300mls cream,

400 gm cream cheese (regular, not spreadable)

1 cup caster sugar,

1 tsp vanilla essence,

1 packet Oreo biscuits, optional,

2½ tsp gelatin,

2 tbsp very hot water,

1 small cup chopped white chocolate.

Directions

Line a 24cm spring form tin with baking paper.

To make the base, blend the plain biscuits until they are quite fine.

Melt the butter and mix together well.

Press into the bottom of the lined tin, making sure that it is of even thickness and firm all over.

Set aside while you prepare the filling.

Place the frozen raspberries in a microwave proof bowl and sprinkle over the icing sugar.

Microwave until they are thawed, this will take a minute or two. You don't want them to get hot.

Beat the cream until it reaches soft peaks stage. That is when the beaters are lifted out of the cream, the peaks that are formed fold over straight away. Set aside.

Soften the cream cheese slightly and place in a large bowl.

Add the caster sugar and vanilla and beat on a low speed until smooth.

Stir through the whipped cream. Mix the filling together by hand very gently after adding the cream.

Pour the hot water (boiling water straight out of the jug) into a cup and sprinkle over the gelatin.

Mix it in briskly using a fork until it is totally dissolved. There should be no trace of the gelatin crystals left. If the grains are not dissolving, pop the bowl into the microwave for a few seconds to warm it and whisk again. The liquid should be amber coloured and perfectly clear.

Pour this into the cheesecake filling and fold through thoroughly.

Place the Oreo biscuits in a plastic bag and break them into smallish pieces using the base of a rolling pin.

Fold these through the filling along with the white chocolate.

Pour the filling over the prepared cheesecake base. Drizzle the raspberries over the top and mix in lightly with a table knife so that there are streaks of raspberry rather than the cheese cake being pink.

Cover with cling film and leave in the fridge until set.

This will take between 2-3 hours.

Notes

VARIATIONS.

Leave out the raspberries and white chocolate and try some of these variations.

CHOCOLATE CARAMEL

Chop a large mars or Moro bar into smallish pieces and stir through.

MINT.

Replace the vanilla with a teaspoon of peppermint essences and stir through — cup of roughly chopped peppermint chocolate or a mint aero bar.

TURKISH DELIGHT.

Chop up two Turkish delight bars.

BOYSENBERRY.

Drain a can of boysenberries and stir through. Prepare frazen boysenberries in the same way as raspberries. Drain off excess liquid.

PASSIONFRUIT.

Scoop out the flesh of eight passion fruit and stir through filling. You can use a jar of passion fruit pulp. This is sweet so you can reduce the caster sugar by one-two tablespoons.