Michelle Darmody: How to make a summer berry cheesecake — and the mistakes to avoid
Pic: iStock
One of my favourite summer berry desserts is quite simple. Freeze the berries when fresh and plump. Make a white chocolate ganache by stirring half heated cream and half white chocolate pieces until melted.
Do not leave the ganache cool, as you would for icing a cake, instead take the berries from the freezer and place them in your serving bowl.
Pour the warm ganache over them and serve straight away. This white chocolate cheesecake is a close relation to this warm white chocolate and berry dessert, using the same flavours, but without the hot and cold temperature difference.
White chocolate can often be oversweet, but the rich, creaminess of the mascarpone, as well as the cream cheese, help to mitigate this, and serving with some berries also helps to add sourness.
Berries are at their best in Ireland right now. They have soaked up the warm summer sun and turned it into a delicious, juicy sweetness, but even at their sweetest they add a sourness as a foil to the white chocolate in the cake.
I use raspberries and blueberries in this recipe but you can choose any soft summer fruit you wish.
Mixed berry baked cheesecake
When I was growing up cheesecake was always served cold and was usually lemon or vanilla
Servings
12Preparation Time
20 minsCooking Time
2 hours 0 minsTotal Time
2 hours 20 minsCourse
DessertIngredients
280g digestives, finely crushed
170g butter, melted
900g cream cheese, at room temperature
3 tbsp plain flour, sieved
170g golden caster sugar
3 eggs and 1 extra egg yolk
30g raspberries, crushed
30g blueberries, crushed
200ml sour cream
To decorate:
A selection of colourful fruit and dried berries
Method
Preheat your oven to 160°C and line a 9 inch round spring form tin with parchment.
Stir the crushed biscuit into the melted butter and combine. Press them down into the prepared tin and flatten the surface.
Bake for ten minutes and set aside. Turn your oven up to 200°C.
Whisk the cream cheese, flour and sugar until smooth. Add the eggs and yolk one at a time until combined. Slowly mix in the crushed fruit and sour cream until everything is combined.
Scoop the mixture on top of your base and smooth it out. You can tap the tin very gently on a work surface to get out any air.
Bake for ten minutes and then turn your oven way down to 90°C and bake for a further 50 minutes.
Turn off the oven and allow the cake to sit there cooling for at least a further hour. This will help prevent the top cracking too much and also allow it to firm up.
Decorate with a selection of fresh and dried fruit.
Have the mascarpone, cream cheese and cream at room temperature. If you whip any of them from cold, it is more likely to result in little lumps and it will also make the white chocolate solidify too quickly.
It is best to use a full-fat cream cheese to ensure richness but also it will whip to a smoother consistency. It is also best to drain off any liquid before using.
You can either melt the white chocolate in a microwave or in a heatproof glass bowl over a small pan of hot water on a low heat. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking. Allow it to cool to just above room temperature. It should be cool but still runny.
If you are pre-making the cake a day or so before serving, leave it in the tin in the fridge, and only remove the spring form before decorating. I place a dinner plate over the tin to stop anything unwanted falling into the cake.
To help you remove the cake from the spring form tin, dip a knife in hot water, dry it, and run it around the inside of the tin.
Sometimes the cheesecake can turn out a bit runny and this usually means the ingredients were not at room temperature, or not whisked enough. If you find this is the case, you can place the cake into the freezer for half an hour and serve it extra cold.
If there will be a delay between decorating the cake and serving it, keep it in the fridge until you are ready to serve. The cheesecake is best eaten on the day it is decorated but will last three days in the fridge.
You can freeze the cake but do this before you decorate it with the berries. You can either freeze it whole or cut it into slices and freeze those. I find it defrosts best if you place it in the fridge overnight.
In place of 2 tbsp of cream add 2 tbs of Baileys or another cream liqueur.
It will add a hint of flavour.
Use chocolate-covered biscuits for the base of this cheesecake.
Do not bake the base but pack it firmly down and place it in the fridge for at least an hour to firm up before adding the next layer.
After stirring in the melted white chocolate, stir in 100g of dark chocolate chips and then scoop the mixture over the base and leave to set.
Passionfruit is both floral tasting and has a sharpness which lends really well to this recipe by complementing the smooth creaminess of the cheesecake.
In place of the berries, scoop the centre from three passion fruits and drizzle it over the cake. If the fruits are particularly sour you can stir in a teaspoon of honey.
You can also get really nice passion fruit curd that can be used alongside the fresh passion fruit to decorate the top of the cake.
