Raspberry Ripple Cheesecake Recipe

Recently my wife, Charlotte, has made us a delicious raspberry ripple cheesecake. Everyone in the family (and a lot of friends as well) have been enjoying this absolute delight. Charlotte adapted this great ‘no bake’ recipe from ‘Children’s First Cookbook’ by Annabel Karmel . Zoe, our daughter received this book as a birthday present and kindly let us borrow it (thanks Zo Zo!).

With a little bit of convincing Charlotte has put together the recipe for us all with attached photos during the process.

Enjoy and bon appetit!

1. 125g (4 oz) butter

2. 250g (8 oz) McVities Digestive Biscuits (this brand gives by far the best consistency for the cheesecake base)

3. 1 teaspoon pure vanilla essence

4. 450g (16 oz) Philadelphia Cream Cheese (original type works best rather than the more reduced fat versions and you will need 2 tubs)

5. 225g (7.5 oz) white sugar

6. 300g (10 oz) raspberries (fresh if available but frozen raspberries work equally well)

7. 60g (2 oz) icing sugar

8. 400ml (14 fl oz) double cream for whipping (if you don’t own an electric whisk and are short on time, you can cheat and buy pre-whipped real cream such as King Island Dairy Whipped Cream or Bulla Thickened ‘Dollop-On’ Cream which is already at almost whipped consistency so only a little bit of whipping is needed)

1. Put the biscuits in a bag and then use a rolling pin to roll and crush them into crumbs. Alternatively, you can use a mortar and pestle to crush them but don’t use this method if your mortar and pestle smells of something like garlic as this will permeate the biscuits!.

2. Melt the butter in a pan. Tip the crushed biscuits into the butter and stir thoroughly.

3. Line a 20cm (8 inches) cake tin which has a removable base with Glad Wrap (cling film). It’s a good idea to line the base and sides separately as this makes it easier to get the cheesecake out of the tin. Spoon in the biscuit mixture, press it flat with a potato masher and put it in the fridge.

4. Make raspberry puree by bringing the raspberries and icing sugar to the boil, then simmering for 10 minutes. Cool, then press through a sieve.

5. Mix together the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla essence. Whip the double cream until stiff, then fold it into the cheese mixture.

6. Spread topping on the biscuit base – use about three quarters of the cheese mixture. Then blob on three quarters of the puree and swirl it into the cheesecake mixture.

7. Gently spread on the remaining cheesecake mixture. Drizzle on straight lines of raspberry puree. Pull a skewer across the lines for a feathered effect.

8. Leave the cheesecake in the fridge for at least 2 hours or preferably overnight.

9. Remove the cheesecake from the tin (very gently). Put a few raspberries on the top to serve.