Himself recently brought home a treat of mini chocolate cheesecakes with salted caramel from Bitesize. They were divine. I’m at home eating salads all day and he waltzes in, undoing all my smugness! It wasn’t enough to have a one off treat, I had to go making my own version. 

So here I am posting a recipe for Double Chocolate Cheesecake with Caramel. You’d need caramel, it’s just not indulgent enough with double chocolate. Just kidding, but actually it is pretty great without the caramel too. This is a no bake cheesecake and while there are a few steps, it is very easy to make. Why not treat yourself over the bank holiday weekend!

 

Useful tips & links:

• I like a combination of mascarpone and cream cheese when making cheesecakes. The mascarpone cheese is richer and higher in fat and cream cheese has a tangy taste for that special cheesecake flavour.
• I usually make cheesecakes in an 8″ tin but made this in a 9″ one. I’m not sure why but I don’t like this as chunky as the other ones I make. I’m weird like that.
• I usually make the caramel from these delicious Caramel Squares from Gillybeangirl on Instagram. Forget banana bread, these gorgeous treats were my go to in the first lockdown. I accidentally bought a tin of caramel instead of condensed milk so this recipe is using a tin of caramel. I like my caramel quite dark abut if you prefer yours to be sweeter, use regular caster sugar and don’t cook it for too long.
• You will have leftover caramel which you can keep in the fridge or heat with cream to make a sauce to drizzle on top.
• You can use chocolate digestives for the base if you want even more chocolate flavour.
• Some recipes use gelatine or custard powder to set the cheese but I like a softer texture. As you can see I’m not great at pretty anyway.
• If you like this I have more cheesecake recipes, including lemon, Maltesers and Baileys flavours.
• Take a look at these gorgeous Cherry Cheesecake Pots from Caitriona of Wholesome Ireland.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Double Chocolate Cheesecake with Caramel

 

Serves 8-10

 

Ingredients:

• 250g of digestive biscuits
• 200g of unsalted butter
• 400g tin of caramel
• 100g of soft dark brown sugar
• 250g of mascarpone cheese
• 300g of full fat cream cheese
• 150ml of double cream
• 100g of icing sugar
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 100g of white chocolate
• 100g of dark chocolate

Method:

• Melt 100g of the butter in a pan and use some of it to grease a springform tin and set that to one side. Crush the biscuits either in a food processor or put them in a freezer bag and bash with a rolling pin. You don’t want the texture to be too fine or the base will be too hard. Allow for some small chunks of biscuit.
• Pour the melted butter into the crushed biscuit and mix well together to combine. Press this mixture into the base of the springform tin and use the back of a spoon or bottom of a glass to level it. Put this into the fridge to set while you make the caramel layer.
• Melt the remaining 100g of butter with the sugar and stir until completely melted together. Add the tin of caramel and bring to the boil, stirring constantly to thicken it. Set aside and allow it to cool slightly.
• Pour about two thirds of the caramel over the biscuit base and put it back in the fridge to set for 30 minutes.
• Set up a bain marie, or two, and melt the white and dark chocolate separately. Allow them to cool slightly so that they don’t split the cheesecake mixture when you add them.
• Meanwhile place the icing sugar, mascarpone, cream cheese, double cream and vanilla into a large bowl. Gently beat them until they are combined and start to thicken a little. Divide the mix into 2 bowls and mix the melted white chocolate into one bowl and the dark into the other bowl.
• Spread the white chocolate cheesecake mix over the set caramel and put it back in the fridge for another 20 mins.
• Then spread the dark chocolate cheesecake mix on top and smooth it out with a spatula. Put it back in the fridge to set for at least four hours.
• When you are ready to serve, gently release it from the tin, and decorate either with chocolate shavings or a drizzle of caramel sauce.