Perfect Party Puff Pastry Truffle Cheesecake

This recipe is completely over the top, but absolutely perfect if you are going to event or want to blow everyone else's cake supply out of the water. This cheesecake will definitely get everyone else's attention not just visually but it tastes absolutely incredible, trust me.

I first made this cake to enter into a 'bake off competition' at work. The teaching staff brought in cakes to be judged by the principle all in aid of a fantastic charity, Great Ormond Street. It was a fantastic day and a lot of fun, I was a little gutted to place second though. Only joking. It was a lot of fun to make as well as eat, everyone enjoyed it and it was one of the only ones to be completely eaten by the staff on out PD day.

I have always enjoyed making cheesecakes, they are my favourite desserts and I love creating the layers and making them very visually delicious as well as taste. So I decided to go all out, I had a little think before hand about what I could do with my cheesecake to make it a little different to those I usually make. The brief was chocolate, so I knew that wouldn't be a problem incorporating, so I decided to switch up the case of my cheesecake a little, I decided I would have a puff pastry base rather than the classic biscuit. I used packet puff pastry in order to save time. I rolled out the pastry, lined with sweet cherries, rolled into tubes and baked. When it came to assembling the cheesecake I cut the pastry tubes into 4cm chunks and stood them up in the tin and sandwiched them with whipped cream, which was mixed with peanut butter. I chose to infuse my cream with peanut butter as I am a massive peanut butter and jam fan, and the sweetness of the cherries was carried well with the peanut in the cream. Fantastic combination.

The layers were all different colours, something I wanted when I planned my cheesecake, to give a more effective appearance, and were infused with various flavours. I had a milk chocolate cream cheese layer, white chocolate layer made pink by food colouring, a layer of crushed biscuits, white chocolate cream cheese, topped off with dark chocolate ganache and handmade truffles.

The decoration on top of the cheesecake is completely over the top but I wanted to go over the top, It was a competition! However don't feel obligated to do the same if you fancy trying this recipe!

So, are you going to make this cheesecake your party piece this Christmas?

Good Luck!

Perfect Party Puff Pastry Truffle Cheesecake

Cheesecake:

1 pack of puff pastry

1 tin of cherries

100g Milk Chocolate

200g White Chocolate

200g Dark Chocolate

500g Double Cream

300g Soft Cream Cheese

200g Mascarpone

2tbsp Peanut Butter (optional)

100g digestive biscuits
Pink food colouring

Truffles:

200g dark chocolate

100g double cream

50g White Chocolate

50g Milk Chocolate

Toppings (optional):

Pistachios

Edible Glitter

Freeze Dried Raspberries

Left over chocolate to drizzle/grate

• Start by lining your desired cake tin with cling film, grease the sides a little then line with the cling film. It would be best to use a spring form tin, that way you can remove the cheesecake with a little more ease.
• Star by flouring the work surface a little and roll out the puff pastry a little, the pastry sheet needs to be rolled out enough so that you can slice it horizontally into 4's. across the top the pastry should be between 6-7cm.
• Once you have cut your shapes, open the tin of cherries, drain the juice and slice the cherries in half. Following the height of the pastry, line the cherries from top to bottom.
• Pull the pastry over the cherries and wrap the cherries up tightly in tubes and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.
• White the pastry is cooking, prepare the cream cheese. In a mixing bowl, stir the cream cheese, mascarpone and gradually add 300g of the double cream. Separate the mixture into three bowls equally. melt the milk chocolate and the white chocolate in separate bowls in either the microwave or on the hob, if you do it in the microwave then be sure to check the chocolate every 10 seconds to avoid burning it.
• Stir the chocolate once its melted and leave it to one side for 2-3 minutes, then add one of the bowls of chocolate to one of the bowls of cream cheese, and another bowl of chocolate to another bowl of cream cheese.
• In the last bowl of chocolate, add some of the pink food colouring, add as much as you want to achieve the colour desired. Put the  cream cheese in the fridge to chill.
• Chop the dark chocolate into chunks in a bowl. Pour 200g of the double cream into a saucepan and heat until it reaches the boil. Pour the cream over the chocolate and continually stir until the chocolate is melted and put in the fridge.
• To prepare the biscuit layer, put the biscuits into a sandwich bag and bash until they are crumbs. If you would prefer you can use a food processor.
• In another bowl using a hand mixer or an ordinary whisk whip the cream until thick and fluffy. If you would like the cream to include the peanut element, mix the 2 tbsp. into the cream until fully dispersed.
• Once the pastry is cool, cut the tubes into 3cm pieces. In the tin place them standing up, create your base squeezing as many of the tubes in the tin as possible. Use the peanut cream to sandwich them all together.
• Take the cream cheeses out of the fridge and in your preferred order and layer them into the tin.
• Once you've done this, add the biscuit layer, then proceed to layer the dark chocolate sauce on top and refrigerate until firm.
• If you decide to make truffles for the topping: Chop the dark chocolate into chunks in a bowl. Pour the double cream into a saucepan and heat until it reaches the boil. Pour the cream over the chocolate and continually stir until the chocolate is melted and put in the fridge until stiffened. Once it is ready, using an ice cream scoop or a teaspoon, create small balls with the  mixture and pop them onto a baking tray. When you have repeated with all of the mixture, pop back in the fridge to keep firm.
• In a small bowl melt the chocolate covering of choice in either the microwave or on the hob. Get you toppings prepared: sprinkles, chocolate shavings, edible glitter etc.
• Once the chocolate is melted, using a teaspoon, lower the truffle into the chocolate and circulate until covered and quickly lift out of the mixture onto a plate or back onto the baking tray and add your desired topping. Pop the truffles back in the fridge when you have finished to allow them to harden.
• Decorate with the cheesecake is ready to be taken from the tin and is set.

Any questions, please get in touch!