White Chocolate Truffle and Cranberry Cheesecake
Servings: 8 people (or more)
Ingredients
Gingerbread base/crust:
- 85g (⅜ cup) butter
- 180g (6¼ oz) gingerbread cookies (see note 1)
Cranberry Sauce (see note 2):
- 40g (1½ oz) fresh cranberries (see note 2)
- 1 tbsp water
Filling:
- 125ml (½ cup) cream
- 200g (7 oz) white chocolate
- 250ml (1 cup) mascarpone
- 200g (1⅔ cups) cream cheese
- 50g (½ cup) icing sugar
- cranberry sauce (above)
Sugared cranberries (see note 3)
- 140g (¾ cup) sugar (divided)
- 80ml (⅓ cup) water
- 100g (3½ oz) cranberries
Instructions
Base / Crust
- Melt the butter in a pan.
- Blitz the gingerbread cookies until very fine.
- Stir the crumbs into the melted butter and mix until everything is combined.
- Pour into a small springform (mine is 18cm / 6"), and smooth out until you have a fairly even coverage.
- Place in the fridge to harden up a little (about 30 minutes).
Cranberry Sauce:
- Add the cranberries to a pan with one tablespoon of water.
- Cook until the cranberries start to burst, then squish them with a fork (see note 2). Set to one side.
Filling:
- Add the cream to a pan and heat it until a rolling boil starts.
- Break the chocolate into small pieces and add to the pan (make sure all of the chocolate is covered by the cream). Leave for around five minutes.
- Quickly whisk until the melted chocolate and cream are combined, and you have a thick, silky mixture.
- Quickly beat the mascarpone, cream cheese and icing sugar in a mixer (or using a whisk), just until everything is well combined.
- Pour in the chocolate and cream mixture, and again, mix just until everything is silky and smooth.
- Add the cranberry sauce and gently stir it in so that it is fairly evenly distributed. Don't stir too much, otherwise your cheesecake filling will be completely pink.
- Pour over the base / crust and smooth it out. Cover with clingfilm and place in the fridge overnight.
Sugared cranberries (see note 3):
- Heat half of the sugar and the water together, just until the sugar has melted. Do not boil the mixture, as too much heat may cause the cranberries to pop.
- Remove from the heat and add the cranberries to the mixture. Using a spoon, move the cranberries around so that they all have an even coverage.
- Pour the cranberries out into a large metal strainer, or onto a wire rack. It doesn't matter what you use, as long as the syrup can drain off the cranberries. Leave to dry (for around an hour).
- Add the remaining sugar to a bowl, and add the cranberries. Give it a good shake so that every cranberry has a lovely coating of sugar.
- Place them on some baking paper to dry (for a further 1-2 hours).
Assembly:
- When the cheesecake is ready to eat, take it from the fridge and carefully remove the springform outer edge (a warm knife might help with this).
- Assemble the cranberries however you like, and add any other decoration (I used some silver balls). Slice and enjoy.
Notes
- I used my pepparkakor to make the base, but you could use any gingerbread or ginger cookie.
- I only wanted to use a small amount of cranberries for the sauce, but if you like them, feel free to use more. I used fresh, but you could use frozen. I didn't add any sugar, but feel free to add a little sugar when cooking the cranberries.
- The sugared cranberries are entirely optional and only used for decorative purposes.