Milky Bar Cheesecake

Milky Bar Cheesecake by Melanee

This deliciously decadent cheesecake is minimally adapted from this recipe by Sarah Tuck.  It has a luscious texture and is great for special occasions – no one would guess it was Failsafe.  It can also be made as cupcakes and it freezes well.

You can replace the raspberries from the original recipe with pears, or just leave the fruit out.

Note the cake in the picture is darker than it should be on top – I had the oven too hot. But it still tastes good!

Ingredients

250 grams Failsafe biscuits (gluten-free if required)
70 grams butter, melted
150 grams Milky Bar or Nestle White Melts, chopped into small chunks + extra for decorating
600 grams cream cheese at room temperature, chopped into big chunks
200 grams mascarpone/sour cream/crème fraiche (no preservatives)
150g caster sugar
2 tablespoons Failsafe custard powder (e.g. Orgran, Edmonds in New Zealand)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract (reduce as required or omit completely – both the Milky Bar/Melts and custard powder already have vanilla flavour)
1 tablespoon water
2 eggs
2 egg yolks

Tinned pears in syrup, drained (optional)

 Method

Preheat the oven to 160˚C. Line the base and sides of a 23cm springform tin with baking paper.

1. Blend the biscuits and melted butter together in a food processor until it has the texture of damp sand, then pour it into the prepared tin. Squash the biscuit crumbs firmly into the base, using fingers and then a tablespoon.  Refrigerate the base while you make the filling.

2. Wipe out the food processor and put in the cream cheese, mascarpone and caster sugar, eggs and yolks and mix until smooth. Mix the custard powder, vanilla and water to a smooth paste and add to the cream cheese and briefly pulse again to incorporate.

3. Melt the Milky Bar either in a heat proof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (don’t let the base of the bowl touch the water) or in the microwave.  Whisk until smooth.  With the food processor running, add the Milky Bar to the cream cheese mixture until well incorporated.

4. Pour the filling into the chilled base. If you like, drop drained pears onto the surface of the cheesecake. Cook for 65–70 minutes at 160 degrees, turning the oven temperature down to 150˚C for the last 5–10 minutes. The cheesecake is ready once it is fully set, with just a little bit of wobble in the middle. Turn the oven off and prop the door slightly ajar.  Allow the cheesecake to cool in the oven to avoid surface cracking. Once cool refrigerate until half an hour before serving.

Grate Milky Bar over top or sift over carob powder.  It is very sweet, so serve with something to add a little tartness, e.g. pureed pear (i.e. Heinz/Wattie’s baby food) and a dollop of remaining marscarpone or fresh plain yoghurt.