A dessert that always reminds me of my childhood, and one which was often eaten at special occasions, was a black forest gateau. Of course nowdays it is regarded as a retro pudding and not one which I often see on dessert menus whenever I eat out, or something that is brought out at family gatherings silce I have become an adult. I have no idea why it is not as popular as it once was, because what is not to like? Chocolate sponge, black cherries and cream -I mean thats a win win combination in my eyes!!
A few weekends ago I had my family over for Sunday lunch, so I decided it was the ideal time to have a go at making a black forest inspired cheesecake – something I have been wanting to make for ages. It is very easy to make and tastes deeeeelicious! I made mine with half quark and half low fat double cream to make it less calorific, but for the purpose of this post I will use the traditional ingredients of cream cheese and cream, and leave it up to you whether you use full fat or low!!
Here is how you can make my version of a Black Forest Cheesecake
- 300g digestive biscuits
- 50g unsalted butter
- 250g cream cheese
- 300ml double cream
- 1 tin of black or morello cherries (I used Princes black cherry fruit filling)
- 2 tbsp chocolate spread
- 2 Cadbury's flakes
- grease and line a loose bottomed tin - mine was 9 inches in diameter
- crush the biscuits into breadcrumbs
- melt the butter
- pour over the crushed biscuits and mix well
- line the base of the tin with the buttery biscuits
- leave to cool for about 20 minutes
- meanwhile to make the cheesecake filling, place the cream, cream cheese and chocolate spread in a bowl and whisk until stiff but not too stiff, I like a bit of movement in mine
- pour over the biscuit base and smooth over the top
- place in the fridge for a couple of hours
- remove from the fridge and pour over the cherries
- sprinkle the flake over the top and return to the fridge for another couple of hours
- remove from the tin when you are ready to serve and enjoy 🙂
This was sooooo good and everyone enjoyed it. It was light and not too rich either which after a big roast dinner, makes for an ideal dessert. Using quark was actually ok, and did not affect the flavour of the cheesecake, and the cherry pie topping is practically syn free so thats a big thumbs up for me 🙂
As you can see the first slice was a tad sloppy – but the rest came out much better and more in slice shape – phew! (I should have waited and taken a photo of the second slice for this post!).
Oh my goodness – sloppy or not it still looks good.
Looks delicious Jenny!
Oh Jenny, I always was sweet treats after seeing your delights! This looks and sounds simply divine! x #recipeoftheweek