Salted Caramel and Vanilla Cheesecake

What could possibly go better in a cheesecake than a salted caramel and vanilla combo? Mmmmmmm, my kitchen has been buzzing with the cheesecake phenomenon and so I thought I would write up my latest recipe which was only made a couple of hours ago. My deliciously sticky cheesy delight.

What you will need…

–          500g Digestive biscuits (I like to use hobnobs however as they add a bit of texture and crunch to the base, you can even use shortbread biscuits or any biscuit really other than chocolate covered)

–          150g Melted butter

–          350g Ricotta cheese

–          60g Almond meal or ground almonds

–          175g Demerara sugar

–          500g Philadelphia cream cheese

–          2 tbsp Golden syrup

–          Pinch of salt

–          4 eggs

–          250ml single pouring cream

–          240g sour cream

–          2 tsp pure vanilla extract

–          Sea salt flakes for sprinkling over the caramel

–          1tbsp icing sugar

–          Hand full of pecans

Caramel Sauce

–          250ml single pouring cream

–          175g brown Demerara sugar

–          60g butter chopped

Method –

Caramel Drizzle

We are starting off with the caramel drizzle as it needs to cool fully before applying to the cake. Place the 250ml single pouring cream into a saucepan and add the butter and sugar. Place the pan over a low heat until the sugar has fully dissolved. Once the sugar has fully dissolved, crank up the heat and bring the sauce to the boil and keep over the high heat for around 6 minutes until the sauce has thickened. Once the sauce has become thick, set the pan to the side and leave to cook fully. If you would like to transfer the caramel into a separate bowl to aid the cooling process, be very careful.

Cheesecake Base

Set the oven to 160C and grease and line your baking tin with parchment paper. I prefer to use the loose bottomed tin as it is easier to remove the cheesecake once it has been cooled. Place the almond meal and biscuits into a zip lock freezer bag and using t
he very professional ‘whacking’ technique, smash your biscuits until they reach a fine breadcrumb like appearance. Pour your crushed biscuits into a bowl, add your melted butter and mix well until all the biscuit crumbs have been well coated in the melted butter. Place the biscuit/butter mixture into the base of your baking tin and spread evenly and up the sides.  Once you have evenly spread the mixture out, place the baking tin in the fridge to allow the biscuit base to set. Leave this in the fridge for an hour or longer. Now, this gives you the perfect amount of time to make your cake. In a clean dry, bowl place your Philadelphia cream cheese and the ricotta and beat for 5 minutes until it has become well mixed. Add your brown sugar and continue beating until everything has been combined. Add the eggs one at a time, not moving onto the next egg until all the previous egg has been taken up in the mixture. Once all the eggs have been added, pour in the golden syrup, pinch of salt and vanilla extract and mix well until everything has been incorporated and the mixture has become smooth. Then, remove the biscuit base from the fridge and pour in your cheesecake mix smoothing it down and up the sides of the biscuit base until you have filled the base evenly. Now place the baking tin into a larger baking dish filled with boiling water and bake for an hour and a half in the oven. Ensure that no water gets into the cheesecake. Once the cheesecake has become firm to the touch, remove from the oven and leave to the side to cool. Once the cheesecake is cool, place in the fridge over night or until the cheesecake has set. Then, in a separate bowl, add the cream, sour cream, vanilla and icing sugar. Whip this mixture up and spoon over your cold cheese cake, drizzle the caramel sauce over the top and sprinkle with sea salt flakes and pecans.  This creation should serve around 8 to 10 slices. There you have it, my delicious salted caramel and vanilla cheesecake. Enjoy!!