I made this for Neeza's birthday, and was planning to go to Jubayl to give it to her, but unfortunately Taufik had to work, so we had to cancel the trip :P (Sorry Neeza! Next time, eh?)
Caught Nigella making this on TV but I didnt have time to write down the recipe so I just winged it. Turned out not so bad, except for the topping which was too sweet. Next time I'd use fresh fruits or maybe just drizzle chocolate over it.
The texture of this cheesecake was really light and smooth and not so rich. You probably have to serve it chilled though, because it doesnt use any gelatine.
Easy Peasy No-Bake Chilled Cheesecake
Ingredients
10-12 Marie biscuits (Nigella used digestives)
2 tbsp soften butter/margerine
2 tbsp ground almonds, with 1/2 tbsp extra
300g pack of philly cream cheese @room temp
1/2 cup icing sugar (more if you like your cheesecake sweet)
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tbsp lemon juice (more if you like your cheesecake tart)
1 cup whipping cream (I used vegetable whip topping)
Fruit topping (I used 3tbsp mixed fruit jam which is waaaay too sweet for me)
Method
Brush sides of a round 8" springform pan with butter, then sprinkle some ground almonds, shake to distribute evenly and remove excess.
In a food processor, ground biscuits then mix with 2tbsp butter and 2tbsp ground almonds, to form crumblike dough. Press biscuit mixture on the bottom of springform pan. Leave to chill in the fridge while you prepare filling.
In a bowl, mix well cream cheese, icing sugar, vanilla essence and lemon juice. In another bowl, whip cream till soft peaks form (not stiff).
Fold cream into cheese mixture till well incorporated.
Pour filling into spring form pan.
Cover and chill for at least 2 hours.
To serve, run a knife on the sides of spring form pan before releasing the cheesecake.
Top with your favourite fruit (I carefully spreaded a thin layer of jam)
Notes:
I find the layer of ground almonds on the sides help ease the release of the cake.
I also made my own cake board (the size of my spring form pan) so that i dont have to serve my cake in the bottom of my spring form pan. That also helped in making it easier to remove the cake.
I dont know how long this cake can last outside of the fridge. So far mine have been out for 2 hours and it's still standing.
Happy trying and tell me how yours turn out!
