Baked Cherry Ripe chocolate cheesecake

As the saying goes, you don't miss something (or someone) until it's gone. In my case, what I miss is Cadbury's Cherry Ripe chocolate bars, which are not sold in Austria. Cherry Ripes are my favourite ever chocolate bars. The combination of dark chocolate, cherries and coconut is so, so good. 

I have been relying on family and friends to 'import' these chocolate bars in their suitcases for my husband and I or to send them via post, which is ridiculously expensive.  

My father-in-law arrived a few weeks ago for a holiday and he bought a WHOLE box of Cherry Ripes - 40 or so bars of choc-cherry heaven! In honour of this event, I decided to splash out and make something featuring Cherry Ripes. And so the baked Cherry Ripe chocolate cheesecake was born.

This cheesecake is rather amazing, if I do say so myself. My desire was to have a cake with a strong Cherry Ripe flavour and texture, so I didn't melt the bars, I just chopped them roughly. When eating this cake, you really get to taste the delicious chocolate bars. 

Naturally, this is a very rich cake; you only need a very small slice, so it will go a very long way if you make it for a crowd. I'd estimate that you could slice this into 16 pieces.

Enough waffling on from me, here's the recipe. Make it, it's wonderful.

What you'll need

For the base

250g plain chocolate biscuits

150g melted butter

For the filling

525g cream cheese

250g smooth ricotta

250g chocolate

150g caster sugar

3 eggs

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

5 Cadbury Cherry Ripe bars, finely chopped (my bars weighed 52g each according to the packet)

For the decoration

Coconut flakes

1 Cherry Ripe bar, broken into pieces

What to do

Preheat your oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Line a 24cm springform tin, first with foil, then with non-stick baking paper. Squish both layers right down into the 'corners' of the pan.

Make the base. Crush the biscuits until they form a fine crumb. Do this with either your food processor or pop the biscuits in a strong plastic bag, wrap a tea towel around it and ask your children to bash with a schnitzel hammer (the latter is my preferred method as it's great fun).

Place the crumbs in a large mixing bowl. Pour over the melted butter and mix very well. Transfer the mix into your prepared tin. Using your fingers press the crumb mixture evenly into all parts of the tin, the base and the sides. Using a small straight-sided drinking glass, press the mixture firmly to get a nice flat finish on the biscuit crumb base. 

Place the base in the fridge while you prepare the filling (approximately 20 minutes).

Make the filling.

Melt the chocolate, either using the microwave in very short bursts, or melting in a glass bowl over a pot of simmering water. Once melted, set aside.

Using electric beaters, mix the sugar and eggs together until the mixture is light and fluffy (about 3 minutes on high). Now tip in the cream cheese and ricotta. Mix with the beaters for another two minutes until well combined and there are no lumps. Using a large spoon, fold in the melted chocolate and cocoa powder until just combined. Add the chopped Cherry Ripe bars and mix through carefully. The mixture should be thick enough that the chopped chocolate does not all sink to the bottom.

Pour carefully into the prepared base and smooth the top of the mixture.

Place into the oven and bake for 1 hour or until the middle of the cake is just set (if you touch it with your finger it should wobble just a little). Once this occurs, turn off the oven (leaving the cake inside), then leave the door ajar for 2 hours, until the cake has cooled. This will stop it from developing cracks. Cover the cake - in the tin - tightly with foil or plastic wrap and place in the fridge to chill until serving.

When ready to serve, remove from the tin carefully. Slowly peel off the baking paper and foil and transfer to a serving plate. Decorate the top of the cake with coconut flakes and broken bits of Cherry Ripe bar. Serve by itself or with a dollop of whipped cream and a hot cuppa.

*Tip - when slicing the cake, if you heat your knife under hot running tap water first, it will make it much easier to slice and give you a much cleaner slice.