Marbled chocolate cheesecake biscuits

Sadly one of my last chocolate bakes before lent starts I think. Though I may be able to sneak one more in on Sunday if I put my mind to it!

The reason I call these cheesecake biscuits and not mini cheesecakes is that I believe my recipe has a typo somewhere. The ratio of base to filling is definitely askew. There seems to be lots of base compared to filling and in the end I did not use all the base mix that I made.  I have altered the recipe to account for how much base I did use. In my final version base to filling is 50/50, hence the name.

Saying that they are absolutely delicious and actually I quite like them like this, a cheesecakey biscuit to have with a cup of tea instead of a full on dessert. The recipe below is for the cheesecake biscuits. If you wanted to make mini cheesecakes I would simply suggest doubling the filling recipe. Keep the base recipe the same as below (the original really was too much).

Marbled chocolate cheesecake biscuits

(makes 8) 

You will need a mini cheesecake tin, mini victoria sandwich tin or similar with loose bottoms.

For the base

75g digestives
30g butter

For the topping

75g cream cheese, room temperature
100g caster sugar
seeds from 1/2 vanilla pod
1 medium egg, beaten
35g dark chocolate

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C FAN. Gently warm the butter until it is just melted. Meanwhile pop the biscuits in a bowl and bash with the end of a rolling pin until breadcrumb like. Pour the butter over the biscuit crumbs and combine well. Press the base into the the bottom of the tin. The filling will only make about 8 so it is possible you will not need all the holes in the tin. 

Bake the base in the oven for 10-15 minutes. Check after 10, nobody wants burnt biscuit base. 

Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. 

Reset the oven to 160C/140C FAN. To make the filling, use a wooden spoon to beat the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla seeds together until smooth. Add the egg slowly, using the wooden spoon to combine well. 

Spoon the filling over the cooled bases. Reserve about a table spoon of the filling. Melt the chocolate with a tablespoon of water in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water. When melted and smooth add to the reserved filling, It needs to be at a drizzling consistency so in all likelihood you will have to let the chocolate mix down with hot water to get to this stage, Just add a little at a time until it drizzles nicely. 

Drizzle the chocolate in a zig zag or blobs, however you wish, over the filling. use the handle of a teaspoon to lightly marble, don't go to mad or the pattern will be lost.

Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes until the edges puff up but the middle is still a little soft. Leave to cool and then put in the fridge for at least two hours before eating. Gently loosen the edges with a knife and gently push on the base to release the cheesecake.

White bottom cupcakes with White chocolate frosting

This months alpha bakes letter is 'W' after the 'V'of last month I am hoping next month might be a little easier on my poor brain! Alpha bakes is hosted in turn by Ros and Caroline, pop over to their blogs for details.

To be fair there are plenty of things you can make involving 'W' I just seemed to be lacking inspiration. It was M who came up with this creation, in a round about away. "What are Black bottom cupcakes" he asked, so I told him. "Can you make them white by turning them upside down", he asked? Well I have not done that exactly. Like a black bottom cupcake I kept the sponge on the bottom and the cheesecake on the top. I have inverted the flavours though.

I made a vanilla (white) sponge and a chocolate cheesecake topping, to up the 'W' factor a little more I topped the whole thing off with white chocolate frosting.

So there we have it White bottom cupcakes with White chocolate frosting.

White bottom cupcakes

makes 6

For the cupcakes I followed the love bakery vanilla cupcake recipe to the letter, feel free to use your favourite vanilla cupcake recipe.

For the cheesecake

100g full fat cream cheese
30g caster sugar
1/2 of one egg yolk
40g of dark chocolate

For the frosting

30g butter
125g icing sugar
1 1/2 tbsp milk
1/2 tsp vanilla paste
50g white chocolate

Pre heat the oven to 180C/160 FAN and line a cupcake tin with cases.

Mix up your cupcake batter and fill the cases 2/3 full. 

For the cheesecake melt the chocolate gently and set aside to cool. Quickly beat together the cream cheese, sugar and egg. Be cautious with the amount of egg. Beat until it is just combined, do not over-beat otherwise it will turn to liquid. 

Add a spoonful of the cheesecake mix to the chocolate and stir trough, add another spoonful and repeat. Add al the cheesecake to the chocolate, stir to combine, do this by hand, do not beat it.

Place blobs of the cheesecake mix on top of your cupcake batter.

Bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes until lightly golden.

Leave to cool on a wire rack

Once cool they can be frosted. For the frosting gently melt the white chocolate and set it aside to cool. Beat the butter and icing sugar briefly and add the milk to help it come together. Keep beating the frosting for up to 5 minutes until it is very light and fluffy. Beat in the cooled melted chocolate until it is combined. 

Pipe or dollop the frosting into the cooled cupcakes. 

Firstly I need to apologise for the state of the frosting, I was baking bread and the kitchen was perhaps a little hot to be frosting cupcakes.

Look white bottoms

This vanilla cupcake is my current favourite and I would recommend the love bakery book to everyone. The white chocolate frosting was an experiment and it really does taste of white chocolate, I really hate frostings that do not deliver what they promise, but thankfully this one does.

The sweet frosting pairs perfectly with the very rich chocolate cheesecake. Be warned this is definitely one for chocolate lovers, if you like your chocolate less rich you could try milk chocolate in the cheesecake.