Salted Caramel Cheesecake

I may or may not still be catching up with posting the festive season recipes...
Ok, full disclosure - I am still catching up. But whoa - slow down 2020!
 I thought that taking a sabbatical from classes would give me a little more time this year, but so far all gaps have just been filled up with other demands (admittedly, I have given myself a bumper list of things to tackle in the next 12 months!)

This cheesecake was made for a pre-Chritmas Christmas dinner with friends.
I use my standard cheesecake recipe and just change it up a bit for the different flavour versions.

Salted Caramel Cheesecake

Prepare a springform pan with non-stick spray and parchment.

Ingredients:
Base
180g chocolate cookies
60g melted butter

Break the cookies into small pieces, then use a food processor to blitz until finely crumbed.
Mix with the melted butter, and press the mixture firmly into the base of the pan. 
Chill in the freezer for 30minutes. 

Filling
Preheat the oven to 160'C

2x 250g tubs cream cheese at room temp.
120g caster sugar
250ml sour cream 
4 eggs
1tsp vanilla extract
100g salted caramel *


Beat the cream cheese and sugar together until smooth.
Beat in the cream and vanilla extract.
Add the eggs one at a time. Beat well in between additions.
Mix in the salted caramel. 
Pour onto the chilled base. 

*I used the salted caramel from this recipe. I often have a jar in my fridge - it keeps really well, and is handy for these recipes, or simply to use between cake layers, on ice-cream , cupcakes, etc. 

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

Ganache:

240g dark chocolate - chopped into small even sized pieces.

120ml fresh cream (35-40% fat content)

Melt the chocolate and cream together in a double boiler. 
Once most of the chocolate is melted, stir until smooth. 
Leave to set until it has an easy spreading consistency. 

When the cheesecake has chilled, spread the chocolate ganache on the top and smooth. 
Place back into the fridge for 30 min before serving. 


Before serving, decorate the top of the cheesecake with chunks of caramel and shavings of Lindt dark chocolate with salted caramel  .

As a little addendum....

I also made a Nutella swirl cheesecake for Christmas. In brief:
Use the above recipe, omit the salted caramel.
After pouring the batter into the base,
warm 1/3 of a cup of Nutella so that it is softer. Use a piping bag with the tip cut off to pipe concentric circles of Nutella into the batter. Drag the Nutella inwards using a cocktail stick.
And bake!

So I know that these instructions are wholly inadequate.  But I'll add a video of the technique as soon as I have an opportunity to bake this again.

Happy baking!

xxM