Baileys and chocolate cheesecake - a birthday celebration

It never ceases to amaze me that the CCD (Caked Crusader’s Da) didn’t like cheesecake for the first 70 or so years of his life.  Now, he likes it so much that he requested it for his birthday cake this year.  Proof – if needed - that our taste buds never stop changing no matter what age we reach.  And further proof that we should continue to revisit foods we don’t like...although I’m still giving mushrooms a wide berth.  Fungus?  No thanks.

This cheesecake takes no time at all to prepare but really is something rather special.  The addition of Baileys (even a small amount like this) gives a velvety taste and texture to the cheesecake – the harsh alcohol flavour isn’t there, but the creamy richness is.  The flaked chocolate provides extra bursts of flavour.  All in all, a hit!

I pondered how to decorate the cheesecake to give it more of a ‘birthday party feel’ and decided on covering the top with maltesers.  I’m not sure if that conjures up a ‘birthday party feel’ or not to a wider audience...we’re not really party people...more sit down and eat lots people.  So it was a success on that basis!

I am going to be (potentially) controversial here, but I do think the best cheesecake is an unbaked one.  Don’t get me wrong, there is love in my heart for all cheesecake, but I like the texture of the unbaked ones better and they are so quick to make; you can go from needing a cheesecake to having a cheesecake in about 20 minutes (if you're not fussy about chilling it).

The CCB (Caked Crusader’s Brother) is a connoisseur of cheesecake i.e. he eats a lot of it, and declared this the best one I’ve made.  I suspect it’s because it combines two of his favourite things: Baileys and cheesecake.  The malteser topping probably didn’t hurt its chances either!

Happy birthday CCD and Nunks (my uncle – they are twins!)

Ingredients

For the base:

250g digestive biscuits
100g unsalted butter, at room temperature

For the topping:

600g cream cheese – I used Philadelphia
100g icing sugar
4 tablespoons Baileys
4 Cadbury’s flakes, broken up – you could also use 100g grated chocolate
300ml double cream

To decorate: maltesers

Method

Place a 20cm food ring (or the ring part of a 20cm cake tin – springform would be easiest to release) on a plate.  Line the ring with baking paper – this aids release later on.

Place the biscuits in a food processor and blitz until you have crumbs.  You could instead place the biscuits in a bag and beat with a rolling pin.

Add the butter and blitz again until you have clumpy wet sand.  If you are making the base without a processor, melt the butter and stir into the crumbs.  NB. There is no need to melt the butter with the processor method.

Press the buttery crumbs into the base of the food ring and level out.

Refrigerate while you make the topping.

Beat the cream cheese in a bowl until smooth and glossy.

Add the icing sugar and Baileys and beat again.

Add the chocolate and beat again.

Pour in the cream and beat until the mixture starts to thicken up.  At first it will seem very wet but – have faith – the cream will start to thicken and you will get a silky cheesecake.  It will still be unset at this stage.

Spoon over the biscuit base and level the surface.

Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or – ideally – overnight.

On the day of serving cover the top with maltesers.  If you put the maltesers on when the cheesecake is still in the fridge they risk getting wet.  As it’s a softish texture, serve it from the fridge.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have created.

Eat.