Foodie Friday On A Saturday - No Bake Chocolate Caramel Cheesecake

This post is typical I suppose of how this year has gone, I don't post a Foodie Friday post for eons, and then when I do it becomes a Foodie Friday On A Saturday post instead. Ha! Ha! life fail in the extreme seems to sum up my year! Anyways I hope that you will agree, that this recipe was one worth waiting for.

I love cheesecake, I crave cheesecake on a regular basis, but as you probably know a lot of the ones that you buy in the supermarkets just don't cut the mustard - they are okay in an emergency but when you want the real I am, you can't beat a homemade dessert.

Baked cheesecakes scare me and as a vegetarian throwing gelatine into something isn't really an option so this no bake, vegetarian friendly number fits the bill perfectly. The recipe is very loosely based on a No Bake Raspberry And White Chocolate Cheesecake that a lovely lady that used to blog shared many moons ago. As long as you stick to the basic filling mix then you can use what every chocolate you like, and you can play with the flavours and the filling be it fruit, or even more chocolate. I made this recipe last week for my mam's birthday and I'm going to be honest this isn't one for the faint hearted - it's hugely calorific, very rich and very sickly, if you like your sweets to be sweet, then this is the dessert for you.

No Bake Chocolate Caramel Cheesecake

For The Base

100g Ginger Nuts

100g Chocolate Digestives

75g Butter (More For Greasing)

397g Tin Carnation Caramel

For The Filling

500g Full Fat Cream Cheese (Room Temperature)

50g Caster Sugar

180ml Whipping Cream

600g Milk Chocolate

65g Butter

1/2 Tsp Vanilla Extract Or Vanilla Paste

Large Bar Of Caramel Filled Chocolate or Soft Caramel Filled Buttons Or Chocolates

For this cheesecake you will need a very well greased, loose bottomed or spring form cake tin, around 23cm across, don't worry if it's a little bit smaller but if it's any bigger you might need to make a bit more of the base.

1. To make the base all you need to do is to crush your biscuits, either in a sealed bag with a rolling pin or if you have one, use a food processor, it's way easier on the arms and you get a more consistent crumb. Melt your butter and then add it to the crumb mix with a tablespoon of the caramel, and give it a good stir.

2. Now it's time for one of the grossest pictures that you will probably ever see on my blog ;) It doesn't look good but the combo of butter, caramel and biscuit crumbs, tastes fantastic. Try not to eat it though, because a cheesecake is nothing without it's base. Pour the crumb mix into your well greased tin, and then press it down evenly and firmly with either the back of a spoon or a potato masher to create a compressed, even crust.

Then either pop it into the fridge or put it in a cool place for around an hour to firm up

3. While your base is setting it's time to start on the filling. Put your chocolate into a large bowl, with your butter and your vanilla, and pop it over a bowl of boiling water, gently stirring until it's melted. Try not to get any water into your chocolate mix and make sure that your chocolate mix doesn't get too hot.

4. While your chocolate mix is melting, put your room temperature cream cheese into a large bowl, and then add the cream and the sugar, then mix it all together until it's smooth.

5. You don't have to add any more chocolate but I love the texture difference in my cheesecake so you can either add some ordinary chopped chocolate or you can do what I've done here and chopped up a large bar of soft caramel filled chocolate (this is Cadbury's Caramel), or you can use individual soft caramel filled chocolates. Pop the chopped chocolate into the fridge until you're ready for it.

6. By now your chocolate mix should be fully melted, give it a good stir to make sure that there are no lumps or solid pieces. It will be a bit thicker than normal melted chocolate due to the addition of the butter so don't panic if it looks a bit thick. Leave it to cool for a minute or two.

7. Then add your melted chocolate mix to your cheese mix, and carefully mix it together until it's smooth and full combined

8. Then mix in your caramel filled chocolate until it's evenly distributed throughout the filling mix.

9. Now it's time to start building your cheesecake, start off by putting a few dollops of caramel sauce on to your chilled cheesecake base

Then start spooning in your cheesecake filling mixture, alternating it with spoonfuls of caramel

Keep a little bit of caramel for the top and swirl it through your cheesecake mix. Then put it in a cold place or in the fridge for at least 12 hours, I left mine for around 24 hours to be on the safe side. Make sure that you put your tin onto a baking sheet or a plate and you can sometimes get a little bit of liquid escaping from the tin, and make sure that you cover the top to avoid anything dripping into the mix

10. Unlike a baked cheesecake or one containing gelatine, this cheesecake will never set completely solid. After leaving it to set though you will notice a definite difference in the texture. It will feel firmer to the touch. Then I guess you just need to be brave, run a palette knife around edges to loosen it, and then either unclip the side of your tin, or push it up from the bottom, and your cheesecake should come away easily.

11. If it doesn't come away evenly it's not the end of the world, it will still taste great even if it doesn't look it. If it comes out great well done you, smooth the edges off with a palette knife, and if you don't think there is enough chocolate or caramel in it already, then decorate it with a bit more, I used Cadbury's Caramel Nibbles here x

Then serve in small slices, it will be gooey as hell, that's just the way it is. Pop it back into the fridge in between ravishings where it will keep for a couple of days, if you can leave it alone that is.

Tips And Suggestions

• As I say providing you stick to the basic chocolate, cheese ration you can use what ever you like, the original version uses white chocolate and raspberries and white chocolate buttons in the filling instead of the caramel, and the milk chocolate and it's amazing. I'm also envisaging a milk and white chocolate swirled cheesecake, a chocolate orange one for Christmas, and maybe white chocolate with strawberry or passion fruit, or a chocolate and peanut butter version or a white chocolate version with crushed Oreos, or even a dark chocolate and salted caramel version, just use your imagination!
• If you think this version is too much then you can of course leave out the extra chocolate in the filling on the top and just use the caramel.
• Instead of Carnation Caramel you could also obviously make your own caramel or toffee sauce, or use a jar of Dulce De Leche, a salted caramel sauce or even something like Cadbury's Caramel Spread.
• I've made this with a combination of gluten free chocolate digestives and ginger snaps but you can use what ever biscuits that you like - digestives are obviously the preferred biscuit for cheesecakes but ginger snaps, bourbons and Oreos also work really well
• It's really important that your cream cheese is at room temperature, it just won't mix in well enough if it's too cold. It's also important that you use a decent cream cheese for this recipe you don't want anything low fat, and whilst supermarket brands do work don't go for their budget or value cream cheese, it just isn't creamy or thick enough.

Obviously this cheesecake isn't something that you would eat all the time, it's way too calorific and expensive to make every day but for a treat or for a special occasion it's well worth indulging in a yummy slice of homemade cheesecake. If you have any questions please leave me a comment and if you try this out I'd love to see your creations x 

Foodie Friday On Saturday - No Bake Creme Egg Cheesecake

It a strange thing  to say it but I have mixed feeling about this post - On one hand this is one delicious, recipe that's perfect for an Easter Weekend but on the other, I'm now loathed to associate myself with the joke that is now the Cadbury's Creme Egg.

As if a significant price hike, and changes in the size of a multi pack wasn't bad enough, they went and changed the chocolate. Some people haven't been able to taste the difference but when you have a palette as accustomed to chocolate as I do, the difference is obvious. To me they now just taste like a bowl of sugar, they are even more tooth achingly sweet than they ever were, and I personally can't even taste the chocolate any more - wahhhh - a British institution destroyed in an instant!

For the purpose of this recipe though I'm going to have get past that - they are just a small part of what is a very beautiful thing. This recipe could of course be made with any sweets that you like, I'm thinking Rolo's, Caramel Bites, or even pieces of any caramel filled chocolate bar but since it's Easter I guess I have to use these, egg shaped imposter's!

Unfortunately I can't claim this recipe as my own, I have a huge bagful of recipes torn from magazines, and recipes like this one hurriedly copied onto scraps of paper. If you know where this recipe originally came from then I'd love to know, so I can give them credit for a beautiful, if calorific invention x

No Bake Creme Egg Cheesecake

125g Butter

300g Chocolate Digestives (Mine Are Tesco Free From)

100ml Double Cream

200ml Soured Cream

700g Room Temperature Cream Cheese 

200g Icing Sugar

1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

2 Bags Of Mini Cadburys Creme Eggs - Chilled

200g Milk Chocolate 

Butter For Greasing 

1. For this recipe you will need a loose bottomed cake tin x You can line the tin with clingfilm or foil but I have faith in my ancient cook wear so I just greased the base and the sides with butter and crossed my fingers very tightly!

2. Put your butter into a pan and let it melt over a low heat 

Then it's time to crush your biscuits you can either do it like I have but putting them in a food processor or you can put them into a sealed plastic bag and whack them with a rolling pin until you have nothing but crumbs. 

Then mix the crumbs with the melted butter, until you have a bowl of melted chocolate and butter coated crumbs

then press the mixture into the base of you cake tin - smooth it right to the edges and make sure you get as even a layer as possible, I usually find pressing it down with a potato masher works a treat. Then either put it in the fridge or a cool place for at least 20 minutes until it's firm.

3. You now need two mixing bowls x In the first bowl add the vanilla extract, the soured cream, and the cream cheese. I'm using Aldi's Cheese Emporium version here which is just as nice as Philadelphia and a bit cheaper, it really does need to be room temperature otherwise it just won't mix together.

Then gradually sieve in the icing sugar,

and mix everything together until it's smooth

4. In a separate bow whip the double cream until it's thick

and then carefully fold it in to the cheese mixture.

5. Open and unwrap one packet of Creme Eggs, It isn't essential that these are chilled but I think it makes them easier to cut. Cut each one in half, you can either do it anyway you like but I tend to do it width ways because they don't seem to break up as much that way.

Then carefully fold the Creme Eggs into your cheesecake mix, until they're distributed evenly.

Then pour the mix over your biscuit base, again try if you can to make sure that the Creme Eggs are distributed evenly throughout the cheesecake, Smooth out the top and then put your tin into the refrigerator or a cool place for at least 2-4 hours until it's set. I actually left mine overnight this time and it was fine. It might be worth putting your tin either on a tray or a plate just in case you get any liquid coming out of the bottom. I would also recommend that you cover the tin up either with some cling film or a plate, just to stop any drips from anything else in the fridge.

6. Once your cheesecake is set it's time for the fun, if slightly scary part. Melt your milk chocolate either in the microwave or in a bowl over a pan of boiling water.

Then, take a deep breath and pour the melted chocolate all over the top of your cheesecake - smooth it so the top of the cheesecake is completely covered. 

Then take your second bag of mini Creme Eggs and press them into the chocolate to decorate your cheesecake. You can either leave them whole or cut them in half. I like the contrast of the yellow and white against the chocolate so I chopped some of mine in half.

Wait a few moments for the chocolate to cool then return the cheesecake to the fridge for around 20 minutes or so until the chocolate has set.

7. If that was scary the next part is terrifying - it's time to take it out of the tin. In an ideal world you'll loosen the clips and a perfect cheesecake will slip from the sides of the tin. This is real life though and things don't always go to plan! I tend to loosen the clips and then go around the edges with a thin palette knife to ease it out and I nearly always end up using a palette knife to smooth the sides down. 

If all else fails  though and if it sticks or drops to pieces it's isn't the end of the world. I'm sure it will still taste fine no matter what, after all it's what's on the inside that counts.

This cheesecake is very rich and indulgent but it isn't as sweet as what you'd think. I'd  recommend cutting it with a hot knife so you get a clean cut through the chocolate layer. It's not the worlds best cutter by any means so you probably won't end up with a food stylist perfect wedges but it will still taste great even if it ends up in an untidy heap.

If you can't eat it all at once (could anyone?) it will last for a couple of day in the fridge, covered up or in an airtight container.

To be honest by the end of this Bank Holiday I think I'm going to be well and truly chocolated out what with this, and my Easter eggs but at least I'm safe in the knowledge that I won't be the only one wandering around in a brown and white, sweet and creamy haze. Never mind it is only once a year, and as they always say a little bit of what you fancy does you good, these are my cliches and I'm sticking to them ! Thanks for reading and happy scoffing x 

Getting Sparkly With Candy Rocks Jewellery

I love jewellery and I love blogger events, and this week I had the opportunity to combine the two courtesy of a local North East based company Candy Rocks Jewellery.

So on Thursday night along with several other lovely bloggers, I headed to The Town Wall, a pub not to far away from the Central Station in Newcastle city centre. The event took place in the Secret Cinema Room, an intimate, and cosy below ground room, with a bar and lined with sofas, and tables and chairs. 

Upon arrival we were greeted with sparkly fruity, drinks from one of the event sponsors, Glo Worm, who produce a range of fruity, caffinated drinks, that are ideal for use as mixers, we had the raspberry one which I would thoroughly recommend! 

The main purpose of the event was to showcase Candy Rocks, newest range of jewellery. Unlike a lot of jewellery brands they just focus on necklaces, and in particular statement necklace. Huge, statement pieces are everywhere at the moment and as you've probably already realised I'm a big fan, so this really was a match made in heaven. 

Excuse the ridiculous amount of pictures but I can honestly say I wanted everything, they had everything from huge, heavy sparkly in your face pieces, to slightly more delicate brights, with just a touch of sparkle.

After having a chance to have a look at some of the pieces, and a welcome from Lisa, it was time to kick back and have some fun. Some of the girls from local salon Glitz N Glamour Hair And Beauty, were on hand to show off their hairdressing skills and quite a few ladies got their hair done -  Chloe from New Girl In Toon, had some gorgeous curls and waves put in

and Becca from Polka Dot Notebook Blog, had the most fabulous up do done, it was stunning, and would be a perfect bridal do .

Talk about sods law though I'd only had my hair done on the Thursday morning so it seemed a bit pointless to get it done after I'd already paid for a blow dry, after seeing Becca's though I was really tempted to change my mind.

As well as having sweeties and lollipops on the tables, we were also treated to some vanilla cheesecake shots courtesy of local company Simply Cheesecake, they were so nice and I'm ashamed to say I ate the crumb too, they weren't that big honestly ;)

After the cheesecakes it was quiz time, I don't think we did particularly well on my table but it was a good laugh. We also had the opportunity to name and win a necklace and of course there was the raffle.

There was a small charge for the event but all the proceeds went to a fabulous charity Head Start For Babies, which raises awareness of plagiocephaly and brachycephaly. A raffle ticket was included in the ticket price, but once everyone saw the prizes, we nearly all bought more. The fabulous prizes included items from Tare, Marc Jacobs Beauty, Benefit and more.  I wasn't lucky enough to win anything this time but lots of ladies went away with some lovely goodies x 

10% of all jewellery sales on the night were also donated to the charity so it would have been wrong not to pick a few things up. It was so hard to choose, and I'm still longing for one of my rejects but I'm really happy with the two necklaces that I got. They are both in exactly the same design but in a different colour. These are probably the most delicate pieces that they had, but that doesn't make them any the less statement or eye catching.

I love the gunmetal chain and setting on both of these necklaces, it's really unusual and not something that you see a lot in jewellery. The first necklace is almost orange / red in colour, and is scattered through with sparkly crystals.

The second necklace is almost rainbow / neon in colour, and contains lots of multi coloured acrylic stones, and crystals again set in the gunmetal effect finish. This is much brighter than it's showing here, my camera has really washed this one out. 

All of there jewellery would be great for evening wear, or even for a special occasion, but I also think that they would work with a shirt, t-shirt or something plain. I love how people seem to style necklaces like this, even with a plain white, t-shirt and pair of jeans, you can create a stunning, individual look in minutes.

Like all good events the lovely people at Candy Rocks made sure that we didn't leave empty handed. We each got a lovely goodie bag crammed full of sweeties, beauty samples, and more Glo Worm drinks. The samples were largely from US and high end brands, and I was lucky enough to get some Make Up Forever, NARS, and Peter Thomas Roth goodies to play with. You'll definitely see some of these bits popping up in a new series I have starting soon on the blog Sample Saturday x 

As well as the goodie bags, we could also chose a necklace to take home, there were four different options to choose from and I went for this one.

It was very different to anything else that I bought, and again I love the gunmetal chain and setting, and I love the combination of the purple/ lilac, the yellow and the pale blue, with the almost champagne coloured crystal. Again the colours are a bit more vibrant irl x 

I would like to say a huge thank you to the ladies at Candy Rocks, and everyone else involved for having me. I had a really nice evening, and got to indulge in one my favourite things, no not cheesecake - jewellery! You can find out more about Candy Rocks, and purchase from either their facebook page, or their instagram page and you can also find them on twitter. If you like something though go for it, the pieces are often available in quite limited quantities. Are you a fan of the statement necklace? Leave me a comment and let me know x