Nougat Cheesecake

There's a hint of Autumn in the air, and I confess - I'm glad!

 My oven has been doing double duty these past few months, shifting between baking and acting as a "drying cupboard". Last week I was juggling between baking with it, using it to store fondant decorations, dry iced cookies, and keep cake lace away from the humidity. And then I threw this cheesecake into the mix - needing a longish baking time, and cooling time in the oven - on a particularly humid day…and oh, boy! The stress! Ok, not really. No lives were lost. Just a batch of cake lace. No biggie. 

So, the cheesecake: 

Nougat Chunk Cheesecake
Recipe by Tea, Cake and Create

Grease and line an 18cm square cake pan or a 29cm round springform pan.

Base
300g finely crushed biscuits - digestives, Marie biscuits, etc.
120g melted butter
100g chopped macadamia nuts or flaked almonds

Mix all the ingredients together and press into the base of the prepared tin.
Cover with cling wrap and place in the freezer for 30min.

Filling
Preheat the oven to 160'C

2x 250g tubs cream cheese at room temp.
160g caster sugar
250ml fresh cream (35-40% fat content)
4 eggs
1tsp vanilla extract
200g nougat, cut into small chunks.


 Beat the cream cheese and sugar together until smooth.
Add the eggs one at a time. Beat well in between additions.
Beat in the cream and vanilla extract.

Pour into the chilled base. Drop the chunks of nougat into the batter.

Bake in a water bath at 160'C for 60-70 minutes, or until just the centre of the cheesecake jiggles when gently shaken.
 Leave to cool in the oven with the door slightly ajar.

Once cooled, refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight before serving.

Happy autumn!

xxM