White Chocolate & Ginger Cheesecake

When I first joined twitter (which was some time ago now) I ran a competition for a recipe using my favourite ingredient stem ginger. The prize was to have the recipe featured on my blog and lo and behold here it is! The winner was @softdumplings whose idea paired my ingredient with white chocolate in the form of a cheesecake. I had to make it twice before perfecting it as baked cheesecakes have a tendency to overcook when not surrounded by a water bath (do make sure to use hot water other the cheesecake will take longer to cook). I would love to say I’m now gonna sit back and have a slice of this but it’s already finished!

White Chocolate & Ginger Cheesecake

Serves 8

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Ingredients

for the base

• 75g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
• 150g gingernut biscuits

for the filling

• 200g white chocolate
• 500g full fat soft cheese, at room temperature
• 100g caster sugar
• 2 medium eggs
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger

for the decoration

• 200ml double cream
• 2 balls stem ginger

Method

Make the base: place a deep 20cm round loose-bottomed (or springform) cake tin on a sheet of foil and wrap the foil up around the sides. Melt the butter over a low heat in a medium saucepan then remove from the heat. Crush the biscuits in a food processor until fine then stir into the melted butter, mixing evenly. Press the biscuit mix into the base of the tin. Wipe the sides clean of any crumbs then grease butter. Place in the fridge whilst preparing the filling.

Make the filling: preheat the oven to 170°C (160°C fan)/325°F/gas mark 3. Melt the chocolate in the microwave (or in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water) then set aside to cool for a few minutes. In a large bowl beat the cheese and sugar until smooth using an electric hand mixer (or freestanding, or by hand with a wooden spoon). Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well between each, then mix in the cooled chocolate and ground ginger.

Transfer the cheese mixture to the cake tin, spreading evenly over the biscuit base. Place the tin in a roasting tin and fill the roasting tin with boiling water – the water needs to be about 3cm deep, the same as the cheesecake filling. Bake the cheesecake for 50 minutes until it is set with a slight wobble in the middle. Remove from the oven and allow to cool (in the water bath) to room temperature. Once cool, transfer to the fridge and chill for a few hours or preferably overnight.

To serve: whip the cream until it holds its shape then spread evenly over the top of the cheesecake. Coarsely chop the stem ginger and sprinkle over the whipped cream. Serve.