Wednesday 29 October 2014

Spiderweb Cheesecake

Confession time: I'm not the biggest fan of Halloween.

I hate horror films with a passion, I'm a complete arachnophobe and growing up in the middle of nowhere meant I never got involved in Trick or Treating as a child. As a result it's an event that largely passes me by each year. However, I'm a sucker for thematic baking so knew I'd have to give in to all of the Halloween paraphernalia in the shops and make something appropriate for the 31st.

The Hummingbird Bakery cookbook - Cake Days - has an excellent section on Halloween and Bonfire bakes, and I was immediately determined to try out the Spiderweb Cheesecake.


The original recipe cane be found in the book - link to Amazon above - but I've also put it below along with my notes and photos, as usual.

Ingredients:

For the biscuit base:
220g digestive biscuits
100g unsalted butter, melted

For the cheesecake topping:
4 leaves of gelatine
600g full-fat cream cheese
110g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 tsp finely grated lemon zest
200ml double cream
60g dark chocolate


Method:

Line the base of a 20cm spring-form tin with baking parchment. Either in a food processor with the blade attachment or in a sealed plastic bag with a rolling pin (which I used - it's an excellent stress reliever…) crush the biscuits into fine crumbs. Pour over the melted butter and mix together with a spoon. Pour them into the lined cake tin, pressing them into the base and place in the fridge for 20-30 minutes while you make the filling.


Place the gelatine leaves in a bowl of tepid water to soften.


In a freestanding mixer with the paddle attachment mix together the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla essence and lemon zest until smooth.


In a separate bowl, whisk the double cream to soft peaks.


In a small saucepan, on a very low heat, melt approximately 200g of the cream cheese mixture. Allow it to warm slightly, then remove from the heat, add the softened gelatine and let it melt in the cream cheese.


Add the remaining cold cream cheese to the warm mixture in the pan, mixing it in 3 tablespoons at a time and stirring continuously. Carefully fold the whipped cream into the cheesecake mixture and then pour onto the prepared base in the tin. Smooth down the top of the cheesecake with a palette knife.


Melt the dark chocolate and allow to cool. Pour it into a piping bag fitted with a fine nozzle. Pipe the chocolate onto the cheesecake in evenly spaced concentric circles. Using a toothpick, draw a fine line from the centre circle to the outer circle to create the spiderweb effect. Clean the toothpick after each line.


Place the finished cheesecake in the fridge and allow to set for a couple of hours, or preferably overnight.


In order to remove the cheesecake from the tin, take it out of the fridge and let it rest at room temperature for 15-20 minutes to soften up. Using a palette knife, slice around the outside of the edge to ease the cheesecake away from the tin. Gently release the clip and carefully remove the outside of the tin. I left the cheesecake on the base, but if you're serving this at a party then transfer it onto a cake stand or serving plate. Smooth out the edge of the cheesecake using the palette knife to even out any imperfections caused during the removal.

Et voila: a Spiderweb Cheesecake, the perfect centrepiece at a Halloween party!



I would have preferred it to be a little bit neater, but never mind! I've never seen a uniform spiderweb with perfect circles anyway, so I can't really complain!



This cheesecake went down an absolute treat. The vanilla comes through really strongly, and the texture is thick and creamy - exactly how a cheesecake should be!

Do let me know if you give this a go, or if there are any particular Halloween bakes you love in the comments below!



***REMINDER - GBBO GIVEAWAY!***


I'm giving away a copy of The Great British Bake Off's latest book: Big Book of Baking
All you need to do is comment on this post, or retweet this tweet to be in with a chance of winning.
Competition closes on Thursday 6th November.
Good luck!

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