Chocolate Orange Cheesecake

This is a fantastic unbaked cheesecake.
To be honest, it’s a bit boring to make because it’s so easy, but on the plus side … it’s so easy!

Ingredients

Base

• 250g Digestive biscuits (finely crushed)
• 100g (6tbsp) butter (melted)
• 3tsp cocoa powder

Cheesecake layer

• 750g full-fat cream cheese
• 250g low fat cream cheese
• 200g icing sugar
• 1 orange
• 200g dark chocolate (melted)
• 2tbsp brandy

Method

Simple instructions

1. For the base, mix all the base bits together in a bowl, then put them in the cake tin.
2. Repeat for the cheese-cake layer.
3. Put it in the fridge for four hours.

Detailed instructions

Base

1. Finely crush the digestive biscuits. A good way of doing this is in a blender. If you have a slicing tool then that can be a good starting point to get all the biscuits into quite small pieces. Then use a mixing blade to get them much finer.
2. Melt the butter in the microwave in a microwave-safe bowl. Remember to cover the bowl to avoid splatters. It will take about 30-45 seconds.
3. Mix with the crushed biscuits in a large bowl.
4. Add the cocoa
5. When it is all mixed, pour the breadcrumb base into a ~22cm cake tin. Use a rubber spatula or a large spoon to push the crumbs down firmly to make a smooth flat base. It should no longer look like crumbs but like a single flat chocolatey disk. Use the spatula to clean out the bowl thoroughly.

Filling

1. Using the same bowl that you just used for the base, which should no longer have more than one or two crumbs in it, but may have buttery cocoa around the sides …
2. Add all four tubs of cream cheese. Notice that we’re using 3 full-fat and one low fat. Using only low-fat makes the cake too runny, and if you use 4 full-fat it is a bit too solid. 75% full-fat seems to be the right mix, but you could also try 50/50.
3. Add the icing sugar
4. Melt the chocolate. Melting this in the microwave doesn’t really work that well – Google it if you’re interested in why. A better method is to break the choc into small pieces (single lumps) into a small bowl that fits inside a saucepan. Add some water to the saucepan, then put your small choc bowl in. i.e. the small bowl of choc is having a bath in the saucepan of water. Now you can melt the choc on the stove.
5. Add the chocolate to the cheese and icing sugar.
6. Clean the skin of your orange to remove any nasty chemicals, then use a zesting grater to take the outer 1mm of skin from your orange. Add that zest to your bowl. Taste a tiny bit – it’s super orange-y, but not sweet. Kind of odd!
7. We need the juice of half your orange. Only use half the orange for juice because too much juice will make it difficult for the cake to set.
8. [optional] Add two caps of brandy
9. Mix it all together using an electric whisk. If you haven’t got one you can use a spoon, but you’ll need strong arms!
10. Use your rubber spatula to pour all of the filling into the cake tin. It will likely just be a big pile in the middle and won’t be smooth. You can settle it down by jiggling the cake tin.
11. Cover it in cling film then put it in the fridge for 2 hours.