White Chocolate & Raspberry Cheesecake

White Chocolate & Raspberry Cheesecake
I can only go on about this cheesecake before so long before you all want to beat my face in with a shovel (er, a surprisingly violent imagination just emerged there) so I will say only this: make this. Make this now. Make this if you want everyone who tastes it to fall in love with you.
White Chocolate & Raspberry Cheesecake
Recipe adapted from The People's Cookbook, as seen in Good Food magazine (July 07).
Serves 12

Ingredients:
For the base:
  • 85g (3oz) digestive biscuits, crushed (Americans; graham crackers. I usually use 100g of each for the base cause I like a little bit more)
  • 85g (30z) ginger nut biscuits, crushed
  • 85g (3oz) butter, melted
For the filling:
  • 500g (1lb 2oz) white chocolate, broken into pieces
  • 50g (2oz) butter
  • 1/2 vanilla pod, split lengthways
  • 500 g (1lb 2oz) full fat soft cheese
  • 50 g caster sugar
  • 175 ml whipping cream
  • 225 g punnet fresh raspberries, plus extra to decorate
Directions: 
  1. For the base, combine biscuits & butter, then press into the base of a 23cm (9.5") springform tin.
  2. For the filling, put the chocolate, butter and vanilla pod in a heatproof bowl and microwave in 20-second bursts to melt it. Allow to cool slightly.
  3. In another bowl, mix the soft cheese, sugar and whipping cream til smooth.
  4. Remove the vanilla pod from the chocolate mixture and stir the chocolate into the cream. Gently stir in raspberries with a spatula, then spoon on top of the base, smooth carefully, and leave in the fridge to set (8-24 hours).
  5. Remove from tin and decorate with raspberries to serve.
I go to uni on Saturday, so blog posts may be sporadic for a while - I'm hoping to get in this month's Daring Baker challenge but time might be against me this week. Bear with me a bit and I'll be back with part two of the sugarcraft flower tutorial soon ^__^.
Also, I made a Flickr account! I'm not sure why. But it makes me feel cool.
full recipe: