Sunday 14 September 2014

Raspberry ripple cheesecake squares




This recipe was featured in the Sainsbury’s magazine – by far and away the best supermarket magazine in my opinion. The recipe, initially, looks like a very basic cheesecake with a bit of a fruity swirl on top.  Look closer and you will spot two less common twists to a cheesecake: firstly, the addition of ground pistachios to the biscuit base, and secondly, yoghurt in the cheesecake.  Both additions pack in extra flavour and I loved the tanginess the yoghurt added.  The pistachios in the base look so pretty:




I must confess I was dubious as to the quantities of the ingredients required for the topping – it looked so much! But the fact it is baked in a traybake tin rather than the more traditional round tin necessitates the larger quantity of cheesecake – and I don’t have a problem with making a bigger cheesecake! (Do take heed though, and use a deep tin!)




Restraint is the key to creating the ripple effect.  I have to force myself to stop about five swirls before I want to otherwise you lose the definition and it all looks an odd shade of pink rather than the lovely red/white contrast.  It’s the same with any marble cake too – I always have the urge to make just one more swirl (I am the Columbo of baking) and then regret it!




Now I must end on a rant.  Kraft – the makers of Philadelphia, my go to cream cheese provider – has relaunched their product.  Now aside from the fact I’m not sure it’s quite as tangy as it was before (it’s billed as ‘now even creamier’), to my horror, the pots now have less content.  What used to be a 300g pot is now 280g.  A 200g pot is now 180g.  This is not good news for recipes using cream cheese – such as this one – where 600g is needed.  Interestingly, the pot looks the same size...just with less filling.  No doubt it is so the price can be kept the same, but, if you are paying the same price for 6.7% less content then surely that is a price rise?  Do they think we’re stupid? Not to mention the extra annoyance that you now need to buy three pots where you previously would only need two.  I am not impressed Kraft, not impressed at all.





Ingredients

For the base:
100g pistachio nuts
200g ginger nut biscuits
75g unsalted butter, at room temperature

For the topping:
600g cream cheese – I used Philadelphia
450g Greek yoghurt – I used Total
250g caster sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ½ teaspoons cornflour

For the ripple:
150g raspberries
1 tablespoon icing sugar


Method

Preheat the oven to 160°C/fan oven 140°C/320°F/gas mark 3.

Line a tin approximately 30cm x 20cm with baking paper.  Make sure the tin has a bit of depth to it – about 4cm minimum.  I used a disposable foil traybake tin as I find them easy to cut open and get the finished item out.

Put the nuts and biscuits into a food processor and blitz to crumbs.

Add the butter and blitz again until you have the texture of clumpy, wet sand.  NB. There is no need to melt the butter.

Press the crumbs into the prepared tin and ensure you have an even distribution.

Beat together all the ingredients for the topping until well combined.

Spoon over the biscuit base and level the surface.

Now make the ripple: blitz the raspberries and icing sugar together in a food processor.

Sieve to remove the seeds.

Blob the puree on top of the cheesecake and, using a skewer, swirl it around so it mixes a little with the cheesecake – don’t over swirl or you will lose the contrast and just end up with it looking pink!  Less is more!

Bake for approximately 45 minutes or until there’s a slight wobble but the mix isn’t runny.

Cool, in the tin, before refrigerating until you wish to serve.

Cut into generous squares.

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


Eat.

14 comments:

Gloria Baker said...

Really amazing and look delicioud CC I love raspberries!
I save this I wanna mske:)

The Happy Whisk said...

The smaller sizes have been going on a long while here. Pay more for less, kind of deal.

Katie said...

I love that first photo - just gorgeous! Looks a divine cheesecake, I always add a bit of yoghurt to my cheesecakes these days, adds a lighter texture I think. Boo to Kraft for making their pots smaller, how annoying

Kate@whatkatebaked said...

Such pretty swirls and a clever idea to add in the yogurt to add an extra tangy taste

I know EXACTLY what you mean about the Philidelhia cheese- I am partial to a tub or two on a sarnie and have noticed it ain't goes as far as it used to!

* not an entire tub ona single sandwich I hasten to add

United Cakedom said...

First I love Sainsbury's magazine too!! Second I noticed that with the Philly Cream Cheese. I have mini cheesecakes on my "to make" list and I figured if I had the cream cheese in the fridge I'd get to it sooner and was just as annoyed by the change in volume! Grrrrr
Lastly the cheesecake looks great! I could go for a square right about now! Bedtime treat and all that!

Snowy said...

That looks so pretty CC and delicious too. I love raspberries. I noticed the shrinking of the Philly sizes - a big con! It's happened with chocolate bars too.

Gluten Free Alchemist said...

I always struggle with swirling restraint too! But this looks perfect, so you must have conquered the urge on this one. I could devour a slice right now! I hadn't noticed the Philli pots had got smaller.... that might explain why my daughter is getting through them twice as fast! Or is she just greedy?

Jo said...

How dare Kraft cheat us out of 20g of cream cheese! Grrrr.

Your cheesecake looks beautifully swirly CC. I like the idea of adding yoghurt for extra tang.

Maggie said...

I love all things cheesecake, what a lovely recipe and it certainly looks delicious.
All the brands are 'at it' and craftily downsizing and coming up with new marketing blurb in the hope the shopper won't notice the smaller packaging!!!

Choclette said...

Ooh what a glorious cheesecake. Love the addition of the pistachios. And I agree swirling is an art form which I have yet to perfect. As for the cheese - I was outraged when I bought a couple of pots recently and only realised later that they had less in them - grrrr

Cakeyboi said...

They look gorgeous CC - would love to gorge on them. But trying to be good after my hols :(

Cakelaw said...

I am a cheesecake fiend - I would love this.

Kim said...

Biscuity pistachio base sounds heavenly! I love all things pistachio. This annoys me too about the quantities. I started buying own brand cream cheese for baking, I really can't taste the difference to be honest!

Unknown said...

Love the colors on this cake, absolutely gorgeous! YUM!