Caramel Cheesecake

For Father's Day this year, I was very shocked to hear my dad wanted a caramel cheesecake. In the past he has had ginger cake and vanilla cheesecake but nothing this exotic. While my mum is an almondy, citrusy person, he is more of a banana bread, ginger cake person. My mum even had some fresh raspberries with her slice, which gave it that leg up. This is a recipe I created on my own, and it was my first time making it, so I had some hiccups along the way with the biscuit base. Because I really wanted to stick with the caramel theme, I used those caramel chocolate digestives by McVitie's. I used to be addicted to these biscuits, and finish 3/4 of a packet in day, so it was like reacquainting myself with a friend I hadn't seen for years. I knew without a food processor, it would be difficult to crush them, so I relied on the hot melted butter to melt the caramel. What I didn't take into account was the extra liquid that would be created by the caramel. So when I poured in the melted butter, it looked a lot more like cement than wet sand. Panic struck for like two seconds, before I remembered, 'to take away the wet, we add in the dry'. I opened the cupboard and took three plain digestives, bashed them with the rolling pin, added them in the bowl and mixed it in with the biscuit cement. Hooray! It worked! The next time I make this, I'm going to half the amount of butter because the caramel in the biscuits essentially acts like butter, helping to solidify the biscuit in the fridge. And it is absolutely gorgeous when you bite into it because the caramel is gooey and chewy - fabulous. As for the filling, lovely and creamy, not as sweet as you would think it would be, but I didn't add as much icing sugar as I normally would. The topping gave me some anxiety because I always want my bakes to look pretty, but it didn't turn out looking so bad. I was very pleased with myself for delivering it to my daddy, proving that all's well that ends well (in my belly).

First thing to do was to make my base. This involved lining a 22cm springform cake tin with greaseproof paper. 

Then in a large bowl, I tumbled in a packet of caramel chocolate digestives, while on the hob, I had the butter melting very gently. Using a rolling pin, I crushed the biscuits until there was a mixture of fine crumbs and flattened caramel. 

A food processor will probably be able to lacerate the caramel, and I tried with my rolling pin, but there was only so much I could do on a hot summer's day. So to the rescue, I had my butter, freshly melted and poured this over the crumbs and caramel.

There was a little part of me, that did say, 'okay, stop pouring it in now, it might be too much now - listen now!' But there's a big part of me that hates waste, so I poured it all in. I don't have a picture of what it did look like, as there was no way I was thinking about a camera at that moment, but I do have of what it looked like after the addition of the extra digestives.

Before the extra biscuits it was sludgy, definitely would have leaked through the tin. You can even see the melted caramel on the spoon. I scooped this into the prepared tin and using clean hands, spread it out and pushed the edges up towards the tin to create a little ridge. 

What I love is that some of the caramel sits on the surface, creating another layer on top of the biscuits. This is what makes it so soft and chewy when you bite into it - divine! I left the base to set in the fridge while I got going with the filling. 

This couldn't be any easier, as it just involved putting the cream cheese, double cream and icing sugar in a bowl and mixing until smooth. It's good to leave all your filling ingredients out to get to room temperature before starting as this makes it easier to mix everything. 

Then to this I added in some vanilla and the caramel. If the caramel isn't soft enough, warm in the microwave until it's runny. Do this in 10 second intervals - we don't need a caramel explosion in the microwave. 

Using a spatula, I very gently folded this into the cream cheese mixture. I didn't want it to be fully mixed in, I wanted streaks of it within the cream, like a marbling effect. 

I poured the cream cheese filling on top of the base and using the back of a tablespoon, I smoothed out the top. 

The last thing to do was the topping. Taking a teaspoon, I plopped on some blobs on the top.

Then using a toothpick, I dragged it from one blob to another to create these little starry shapes. I was thinking of using the bottom of a teaspoon, but thought I would have more control of the toothpick. 

This was covered in foil and left to set in the fridge for the next 6 hours. You can also set it overnight.

When we were ready to eat, I simply removed it from its tin and carefully peeled off the parchment paper at the bottom. 

In the end, it was a delight to eat, soft and light from the filling and sweet and gooey from the base. Everything worked from the bottom up, and my dad was very pleased. We all had a slice on Father's Day, but the rest was left for him and he finished it in a couple of days. As for me, I learnt something new again, and I'm even thinking about restarting my relationship with caramel chocolate digestives. 

Serves: 6-8 people

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Setting Time: 6 hours or overnight

Ingredients:

    

    For the Biscuit Base:

• 267g Caramel Chocolate Digestives by McVitie's, crushed
• 75g Butter, melted

    For the Filling:

• 500g Cream Cheese 
• 450ml Double Cream 
• 100g Icing Sugar 
• 1tsp Vanilla Extract 
• 100g Caramel

    For the Topping:

• 50g Caramel

Method:

1. Prep your tin by lining the base of a 22cm springform tin with greaseproof paper. 
2. On the hob, melt the butter on the lowest heat while you get on with the biscuits. 
3. In a large bowl, bash the biscuits with a rolling pin until the biscuit becomes crumbs. If you have a food processor, blitz until fine. Don't worry if the caramel doesn't break down fully. 
4. Pour the melted butter over the biscuit crumbs and stir together with a spoon until the caramel has melted. Tumble the crumbs into the prepared tin and using either your hands or the back of a tablespoon, level it out and push the edges to form a ridge. Pop into the fridge while you get on with the filling. 
5. In another large bowl, put in the cream cheese, double cream and icing sugar. Whisk this until smooth. Fold in the vanilla extract and then gently fold in the caramel. Make sure to not fully mix the caramel into the cream cheese, as you want a marbling effect. 
6. Smooth out the top with the back of a tablespoon. Take the remaining caramel and spoon blobs onto the top of the cheesecake using a teaspoon. Then using a toothpick, drag from one blob to another to form any pattern that you would like. 
7. Cover the cheesecake with foil, making sure it doesn't ruin the topping and leave to set in the fridge for at least 6 hours. 
8. When ready to serve, remove from the tin and carefully remove the greaseproof paper. Cut into slices and eat with fresh raspberries if you wish.