Happy Valentine’s Day and Happy Birthday to my friend Shoe Lady.
I was going to entitle this post Cheesecake 2.0 but feared the 2.0 joke might be wearing thin. I have been writing this blog for over 10 years and some of the old, old recipes could do with a refresh (hence 2.0). In some earlier posts the photographs have disappeared due to some technical glitch. Apparently they exist somewhere in the Cloud but I feel it is easier to post an updated recipe than to go hunting for the original photos.
This is our family’s favourite cheesecake. The original, from Gordon Ramsay, is made with pears although I usually make it with fresh raspberries. This version was created to use the amarena cherries in syrup left over from Christmas. We had it for our family dinner to celebrate the last day of Chinese New Year 2025 (see here for some of the meals we had over the two week period).
If you are looking at the list of ingredients and hesitating, I completely agree that this is not the kind of dessert you want to eat too often. The cheesecake is not baked, so in order to keep its shape it really has to be the full-fat version of everything. If you would like to attempt a half-fat version then I suggest you layer the ingredients in tall glasses. Junior 2 also suggested that freezing a low-fat version could work. This recipe will yield 12 modest slices of cheesecake or 8 larger slices.
I used bottled amarena cherries in syrup from Fabbri
Besides cream cheese and cream, the other key ingredients are digestive biscuits, amaretti biscuits and cherries in syrup
For the Cheesecake:
250 g digestive biscuits
100 g unsalted butter, melted
300 g full-fat cream cheese (I always use Philadelphia)
150 g caster sugar
150 g full-fat crème fraîche
300 g full-fat double cream
90 g amaretti biscuits, crushed
1 heaped teaspoon vanilla bean paste
30 amarena cherries from the jar, left whole
around 3 tablespoons of cherry syrup
You will also need a 23-24 cm spring-form or loose-bottomed cake tin, lined at the bottom and around the sides. Since I made the cheesecake close to Valentine’s Day I did toy with the idea of making a heart-shaped one. Next year perhaps.
How to Make:
First make the cheesecake base. Break each digestive biscuit into half and place in a food processor. Add the melted butter and process until the texture of fine breadcrumbs.
Pour the biscuit mix into the base of the cake tin, then use the back of a metal spoon to press into an even layer. Chill to set.
Place the cream cheese in a large mixing bowl with the sugar and vanilla paste. Beat until smooth.
In a separate mixing bowl, whip the crème fraîche and double cream until forming soft peaks. Fold this gently into the cream cheese mix.
Finally, fold in the crushed amaretti, cherries and 3 tablespoons of cherry syrup. Just a few turns with the spoon will suffice. The aim is to get a few streaks of cherry juice running through the cheesecake mixture, not to make the whole cheesecake pink (although that would make a lovely Valentine’s Day dessert).
Spoon this mixture onto the biscuit base and level the top. Chill until firm.
To serve, remove the cheesecake from the tin and place on a large serving plate. Add one or two cherries with a bit of syrup to each slice of cheesecake as you hand to your guests.
I am about to board my flight now to Kuala Lumpur, and the next post will be from my hometown.