For a dinner party recipe that will knock your guests’ socks off, you can’t go wrong with this delicious nougat cheesecake.
Ingredients
- 100g unsalted butter
- 225g digestive biscuits, crushed
- 4 gelatine leaves soak in cold water, or 6 for a firm set (see tip)
- 1kg mascarpone
- 400g full fat cream cheese
- 150g icing sugar, sifted
- 125g mixed toasted nuts, chopped (we used flaked almonds, pistachios, hazelnuts)
- 75g nougat pieces, finely chopped
- 1tsp vanilla extract
- To decorate:
- a hard almond nougat or brittle (we used M&S Torte Turron de Alicante Almond and Honey Brittle Cake), broken into shards
- small handful nougat pieces, cut into cubes
- small handful pistachios, finely chopped
- edible white glitter, for sprinkling
- reindeer cupcake toppers (ours are from talkingtables.co.uk)
- You will need:
- 20cm round, non-stick loose bottom cake tin
Method
Gently melt the butter in a heavy-based saucepan, remove from the heat, add the crushed digestives and mix until well coated. Press into the base of the tin, chill to firm up.
Out the gelatine into cold water to soften, then dissolve it in 50ml water over a very gentle heat. Set aside to cool.
In a large bowl, beat the mascarpone, cream cheese and icing sugar until smooth, being careful not to over mix. Stir through the gelatine mixture, nuts and nougat pieces until just combined. Spoon half the mixture into the tin and spread to create a smooth top. Repeat with the remaining mixture then return to the fridge to set for at least 4 hours, or overnight.
To serve, decorate with shards of the brittle, chopped pistachio, nougat pieces, a sprinkle of glitter and the reindeer decorations.
Top Tip for making Nougat Cheesecake
This is a soft set cheesecake but we and all our tasters loved the texture – if you would prefer a really firm set, add 2 more gelatine leaves This cheesecake will keep for 2 days in the fridge
