Om Nom Nom Nom!

left to right: carrot cake, banoffee pie, key lime pie and
White Choc Cheesecake. Made for our annual
 Boxing Day Gathering

Birthday, Christmas, Easter, Summer, Winter... Do you really need an excuse to bake a cake? Any reason will do! I love making cakes - more about that in posts to follow - but my all time favourite (and very indulgent) recipe is for White Chocolate Cheesecake. This is such an easy recipe and is extremely rich and......... Ohhhh, you really must try it! I save it for VERY special occasions as I dread to think how many calories and fat is in it. The recipe was passed to me by a close friend and I have made it every Christmas since. Even my mum, who is not a lover of anything sinful, does enjoy a  slice or two of this. So here it is... Enjoy!

Biscuit Base:
75g Digestive Biscuits, crushed
75g Gingernut Biscuits, crushed
75g Butter, melted

Filling:
400g White Chocolate  (I use Milkybar, but other varieties are available!) Broken into pieces
65g Butter
1/2 Vanilla Pod
500g Cream Cheese
50g Castor Sugar
180ml Whipping Cream
Strawberries or Raspberries

To make:

• Combine the biscuits and melted butter and press onto the base of a 23cm springform tin, then chill in fridge whilst making the rest
• Place the chocolate, butter and vanilla pod in a heatproof bowl, set over a pan of simmering water until melted. Allow to cool slightly
• In another bowl, mix together the cream cheese, sugar and whipping cream to a smooth consistency
• Remove the vanilla pod from the melted chocolate mixture and stir this mixture into the cream mixture, Gently stir in some raspberries or strawberries, being careful not to release any juice into the mixture
• Spoon the mixture on top of the biscuit base and place in the fridge to set for at least 8 hours
• Decorate before serving with a few whole strawberries/raspberries