Ruby And White Chocolate Cheesescake

Here is where Mr P. and I differ: he adores white chocolate, while I love it thrillingly dark and sophisticated and bitter.  I keep telling him white chocolate is no chocolate at all:-)  But here I am making a cheesecake which is blessed with copious amounts of the stuff...

I recently got hold of some ruby chocolate, made from the ruby cocoa bean.  This chocolate is apparently made from unfermented cocoa beans with a natural red-pink colour, and a unique fruity flavour.  Crumbs, I sound like an ad, don't I?  Mm, truth to tell, I am a cynic at heart, and I wonder if the pink colour is real.  But hey, that's just little ol' sceptical Sherry talking:-)

so pretty - oops! forgot the nuts 

As ruby chocolate doesn't take well to cooking, I hunted around for a no-bake dish.  I found a recipe for white chocolate cheesecake submitted by Kay Orford, in the lovely Emmanuel Anglican College Ballina cookbook Our Ballina Table.  Kay's recipe is brief, and I have to say it has a few dodgy details (sorry my unknown friend), so I have adapted, blinged up and modernised her recipe.

    
ingredients:

the base:


150g. of plain biscuits - I used a mix of digestives and butternut snaps

75g. butter, softened (not melted) 


the filling:


250g. (8oz.) cream cheese at room temp.

250 mLs (1 cup) of cream - I used thickened

250g. (8oz.) mascarpone

55g.-110g. (/¼-½ cup) caster sugar (superfine if you are from the U.S.) - this is a very sweet filling, so you may want to use the lesser amount of sugar :-) 

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

250g. (8oz.) good quality white chocolate

250g. (8oz.) ruby chocolate - or milk chocolate if you can't find ruby


the top:

30g. pistachios or blanched almonds, chopped (optional)

60g. cranberries or raspberries or fruit of your choice - preferably one that has a bit of tang or acidity rather than a very sweet one

20g. ruby chocolate and 20g. white chocolate, grated or chopped to decorate


Method:


Blitz the biscuits in a food processor till they resemble breadcrumbs, or bash them in a ziploc bag with a rolling pin

Add the softened butter to the processor and zap away till the mixture starts to clump together; if you don't have a processor, I suggest melting the butter and combining that with the biscuit crumbs

Tip the mixture out into a 23cm (9 in.) springform pan that has been lightly buttered and lined on the base with baking paper

Use your hands or the back of a large spoon to push the crumbs onto the base 

Place in the fridge for an hour to settle down

When the hour is up, make the filling: place the cream cheese in the processor (or large mixing bowl), and give it a few pulses to break it up - or beat it soundly with your wooden spoon

Now add the cream, mascarpone, sugar and vanilla and whiz or beat as appropriate till smooth; divide the mixture into two separate bowls

Melt the two chocolates separately in microwave-proof bowls (the ruby chocolate took 70 seconds, and the white took 80 seconds)

Let them cool for a few minutes, then fold the ruby gently into one of the bowls of cream cheese mixture, and the white into the other bowl

Spoon the mixtures alternately onto the biscuit crumb base, and swirl with a knife; you want that lovely swirl of colours to show

Now scatter the fruit, nuts (if using) and grated chocolate over the top and refrigerate for several hours or overnight


Notes:


You can use ruby with white, or white with milk, or white with dark chocolate - your choice

I used frozen cranberries which I had thawed well (we don't have fresh ones here in Australia), but use your fave fruit

ingredients gathered

blitz the biscuits and softened butter together 

press the mixture firmly into the lined base of the tin 

beat the cream cheese etc together till smooth 

melt the chocolate(s) separately

pour the melted chocolate(s) into the cream mixture 

spoon and swirl the mixtures into the tin 

smooth out the top

decorate with the fruit and grated chocolate

ready to eat

     artwork © Sherry's Pickings