Toblerone Cheesecake

So it’s November and for me that means two of my nearest and dearest have their birthdays, and it has so very inconveniently worked out that they were both on the same day. It’s been a bit of a hectic few weeks trying to sort out gifts, but I’d found and bookmarked this cake several months ago because I know Toblerone is one of my boyfriend’s long time favourites. This cake is one from my absolute favourite blog, Jane’s Patisserie. She makes absolutely beautiful cakes and other baking creations, and has some really great and creative ideas. If you like chocolate and you like cheesecake, she actually does a whole series of different branded cheesecakes so it might be worth having a look on there if Toblerone’s not your thing but you like the idea in principle!

I’m really happy with how this cheesecake turned out in the end. As with all cheesecakes it’s pretty rich, but it’s not in a way that feels overwhelming and the flavour felt just right. The decorations really make the cake as well and even though it takes a bit of extra time, it’s much quicker and easier than you’d probably think and is well worth it. One word of warning with this Toblerone Cheesecake is to learn from my mistakes and be really careful about making sure your melted chocolate has cooled as much as possible before putting it into the mix. In a bit of a cake drama Saturday morning I had to discard my first batch and run to the shops, while friends were arriving to stay at mine for his birthday and I was being less than the perfect host hidden away in the kitchen. As you may know, heat is pretty lethal when it comes to a batch of whipped cream. Heat can be caused by overwhipping, but of course by melted chocolate that has not sufficiently cooled as well. If it does overheat, your lovely stiff cream will flop into a liquid buttery mess and end up as pretty useless. So avoid my downfall and make sure the chocolate has cooled as much as possible, waiting just until the point when it’s still liquid but not too warm anymore. Extra precautions you can consider taking are chucking the cream in the freezer while you’re getting other bits ready and being careful not to overwhip it!

I’ve added an optional set of instructions for the decorations at the end, but feel free to do whatever you fancy. If you are using whipped cream to decorate, you can of course use squirty cream – personally squirty cream doesn’t do it for me, and I really think it’s worth investing in whipping cream and piping it on. If you need an extra incentive, the leftover whipped cream made the perfect accompaniment to my hot chocolate the night after everyone was gone and I had a chance to relax 🙂

And one final tip – even if you haven’t got any birthdays coming up, the Christmas season coming up at the moment and Toblerone definitely has that festive feel to it!

Ingredients

• 300g digestive biscuits
• 150g butter/margarine, melted
• 200g milk chocolate
• 200g Toblerone
• 400g cream cheese
• 125g icing sugar
• 300ml double cream

To decorate (optional)

• 80g dark chocolate
• 150ml whipping cream, or squirty cream
• One pack of Mini Toblerone

How to make it…

1. Crumble the digestive biscuits, either by hand or using a blender until they break up into tiny crumbs. Then, add the melted butter and mix well. Press this firmly into the bottom of a springform cake tin (either 23cm or 20cm should be absolutely fine, I used 23cm), trying to ensure in particular that you leave a neat finish at the edges of the cake where it will be exposed. Then leave to refrigerate while you make the rest of the cake, or you can leave it in the fridge overnight.
2. Next, gently melt the milk chocolate in a glass bowl over a pan of simmering water. If you prefer, use a microwave to melt the chocolate but do so on a low heat and make sure you don’t burn it. Leave to cool while you prepare the rest of your filling, or until it’s still in liquid form but no longer feels warm.
3. Next, start finely chopping the Toblerone.  I found it was easiest to do this using a big, sharp knife and trying to finely slice it. It doesn’t matter if you’ve got some slightly chunkier bits left over, but as a guide I started off with pieces pictured below and went slightly smaller still.
4. Next, whisk the cream cheese and icing sugar together until smooth. You can do this by hand or by using an electric whisk. Then, add the double cream and use an electric whisk or mixer to whisk this for several minutes, until it starts to become very thick and holds it form when you take out the whisk (see below). Make sure you stop at this point, because it’s important not to overwhisk.

5. Gently fold in the cool melted chocolate, giving a few quick blitzes of the whisk if required. Then, gently fold in the chopped Toblerone pieces as well. Scoop the mixture the biscuit base in the spring form tin and smooth over the surface.  6. Leave to set in the fridge for at least 6 hours, but preferably overnight. Remove the spring form from the tin and either serve or decorate.

To decorate (optional)

1. Melt the dark chocolate in a glass bowl over simmering water (or in the microwave). Next, using either a piping bag or a spoon gently start to draw both horizontal and vertical lines across the  top of the cake.

2. Using either a piping bag and freshly whipped cream or using squirty cream, decorate the outer edge of the cake with little florets of cream. You may like to alternate between a little one to rest your Toblerone pieces on and slightly bigger ones to go in between.

3. Add the mini Toblerone pieces to the smaller florets of cream.

Enjoy!

Recipe from Jane’s Pattiserie blog, the ‘No-Bake Toblerone Cheesecake’

For more of my cake ideas, check out:

• Rose Apple Tarts
• Passion fruit Posset
• Cake in a Jar Gift
• Traditional Dutch Apple Cake
• The Jessica Cake – A Victoria Sponge with a Twist