Double Chocolate Cheesecake

For this week's recipe I chose Double Chocolate Cheesecake from one of my Weight Watchers books. I made a few tweaks which I have put in along with the original recipe.

I decided that instead of making one cheesecake, I would make 6 little cheesecakes. I tend to always make little cakes instead of 1 large one. I don't know why, but I think maybe it's just that I think they look cuter. Plus I don't feel as bad about eating a little cake on my own rather than a large one!

So on with the show......

Double Chocolate Cheesecake

(Serves 8 and is 5 points a serving)

Ingredients:

50 g butter, (1 3/4oz)

6 portions low-fat digestive(s), crushed (I found this to be about 10 biscuits)

1 sachet gelatine, (powdered), use 1 1/2 tbsp

100 ml water, (just-boiled)

300 g low-fat soft cheese, (10 1/2oz) (I used Philly Light)

300 g very low-fat plain yogurt, (10 1/2oz)

2 teaspoon vanilla essence

4 tablespoon artificial sweetener, powdered (As Splenda is my enemy, I used regular sugar)

2 heaped teaspoon cocoa powder (I used Whittards Coconut flavoured cocoa powder)

To decorate:

75 g chocolate, white, broken into pieces

1 heaped teaspoon cocoa powder (Used the coconut cocoa powder again)

Instructions:

Line a 20cm (8 inch) non-stick loose-based cake tin with non-stick baking parchment or greaseproof paper.

Melt the butter over a low heat and stir in the biscuit crumbs. Tip them into the cake tin, pressing them evenly over the base. Chill for about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, sprinkle the gelatine into a small jug containing the just-boiled water, stirring well. Allow to dissolve for 4-5 minutes to give a clear liquid.

In a large bowl, beat the cheese to soften it, then mix in the yogurt, vanilla and chocolate extracts and sweetener. Dissolve the cocoa powder in 2-3 tbsp hot water, stirring until smooth. Add to the cheese mixture. Taste the mixture, adding more powdered sweetener if needed.

Stir the cooled gelatine liquid into the cheese mixture, making sure that it is thoroughly incorporated. Tip the mixture over the biscuit base and leave to set for about 2 hours.

When ready to serve, carefully remove the cheesecake from the tin and peel away the lining paper. To decorate, melt the white chocolate in a heatproof bowl, positioned over a pan of simmering water. Fill a spoon with the melted chocolate and drizzle it over the surface of the set cheesecake. Cut into slices, then serve, sprinkled with cocoa powder. As I made the little cakes, I topped them with some raspberries I had lying around to give them some colour.

If the gelatine sets before you add it to the cheese mixture, melt it by putting the jug into a saucepan of hot water, though you must make sure that the gelatine liquid is quite cool before you add it to the mixture.

If you can get hold of Chocolate Extract, you can add 2 tsp as well as the vanilla essence.

The verdict:

I love baked cheesecake and normally when I make cheesecake I bake it. This was the first time that I had made cheesecake with gelatine. It has not converted me, but it was really nice.

The only negative for me with the recipe was that the taste of the yoghurt over-powered everything. Because of that I added an extra teaspoon of cocoa and an extra teaspoon of vanilla essence to the cheese mixure which helped a bit. Probably adding the additional chocolate essence, like suggested in the recipe, might have helped a bit with masking the yoghurt taste.

I would make this again but change the recipe slightly by adding more philly, less yoghurt and trying raspberry essence along with the vanilla essence.