Caramel Cheesecake Recipe

The cheesecake is baked but served cool so may be best to bake it the day before you wish to serve it.

The quantities below makes a fairly shallow cheesecake to serve 6 in an 18cm round pan. Double the quantities for a deeper cheesecake or if baking in a larger tin.

Ingredients

• 9 digestive biscuits
• 40g butter for the base, 30g for caramel
• 180g cream cheese
• 40g caster sugar for cheesecake, 100g for caramel
• 1 egg
• 60g sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 20ml milk
• 100 ml double cream for whipped cream, 40ml for caramel
• Icing sugar

Making the Cheesecake

1. Heat the oven to 200 degrees C and grease the tin.
2. Judge how many digestives you’ll need for the base by placing some in your tin and layering them up until you can’t see the bottom anymore.
3. Place your biscuits in a zip lock bag and crush them up with a rolling pin, until you’re left with a bag of crumbs. Be careful not to get too aggressive and rip the bag.
4. Heat 40g of butter in a pan until completely melted.
5. Pour your biscuit crumbs into the melted butter and mix well. Then place the buttery biscuits into the tin and press down to form a base.
6. Bake the base in the oven for 5 minutes.
7. In the meantime, use a wooden spoon to mix the cream cheese and 40g sugar, then use an electric whisk (if available) to make it smooth and creamy.
8. Whisk in the eggs and sour cream, and vanilla.
9. Once the base is out of the oven, pour the mixture onto the base.
10. Place this in the oven and bake at 200 degrees C for 10 minutes.
11. After this time, turn the temperature down to 110 degrees and continue to bake for 25 minutes.
12. Allow the cheesecake to cool for several hours or overnight before decorating and serving.

Making the Caramel

1. Place 100g sugar in a large pan and gently heat.
2.  Whilst waiting for the sugar to melt, measure out the 30g of butter and cut into small chunks. Mix together the 40ml of double cream and 10ml of milk.
3. When the sugar begins to melt, use a spatula to move the sugar around so it doesn’t burn. 
4. Continue to heat the sugar until it has turned completely to liquid, it will go a golden brown colour.
5. Carefully whisk in the butter, then turn off the heat.
6. Whisk in the milk and cream mixture, a little at a time.
7. Pour the caramel into a measuring jug or dish and leave to cool. It will thicken slightly as it cools. Store in a fridge when cool enough.

Making the Whipped Cream 

1. To make your own whipped cream pour 100ml of double cream into a bowl and add a few teaspoons of icing sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla extract.
2. Whisk with an electric whisk until the cream thickens and stays as stiff peaks when you take the whisk out.
3. If the whipped cream isn’t quite sweet enough add a little more icing sugar.
4. For my cheesecake I used a piping bag with a 2D nozzle to create star shapes around the edge. If you do not have a 2D nozzle, you can easily create circles by snipping the end off a zip loc bag or piping bag. Fill the bag with the whipped cream and pipe around the edges.