I’m smiling as I write this post, thinking about what a great time I had in Perth over the Easter long weekend. The weather was just stunning, the mood was relaxed (yay holidays!) and I got to hang out with my very favourite person. It doesn’t get much better than that. On Easter Sunday we hosted a nice casual lunch with the best roast pork I’ve made to date (mmmm crackling), heaps of sides and this Salted Caramel Cheesecake for dessert.
Yes I’m sharing this recipe a little after the fact, but it was so delicious I couldn’t let it sit another week on my hard drive. I had been wanting to make this Salted Caramel Cheesecake ever since it graced the cover of the 2011 Entertaining Issue of Donna Hay.
I have a love/hate relationship with Donna’s recipes these days, sometimes they work flawlessly – like this one, happily – but I’ve also had my fair share of utter disasters where I can’t figure out if I did something wrong, or if the recipe wasn’t properly tested before it was published. Those disasters often end up in the bin and not on the blog! So past frustrations aside, I gave this recipe a crack, sticking to the instructions exactly. Well, almost exactly… I couldn’t help adding a glug of bourbon to the caramel sauce.
I am usually a bit iffy about ricotta as a general rule, but I loved the texture of this cheesecake. It was rich but not sickly sweet thanks to the addition of sour cream to the topping. This is definitely a recipe I’ll be pulling out again for the next special occasion!
And here’s a gif, just because.
Salted Caramel Cheesecake
Recipe from Donna Hay
Serves 8-10
• 500g plain sweet shortbread biscuits
• ½ cup (60g) ground almonds
• 150g butter, melted
• 350g ricotta
• 500g cream cheese
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 tablespoons golden syrup
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup (250ml) pouring cream
• 1 cup (240g) sour cream
• 1 tablespoon icing sugar, sifted
Bourbon Salted Caramel Sauce
• 1 cup (250ml) pouring cream
• 60g butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons bourbon
To make the caramel sauce, place the cream, butter and sugar in a saucepan over low heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Increase heat to high, bring to the boil and cook for 5–7 minutes or until thickened. Set aside and allow to cool. Preheat oven to 160°C (325°F). Place the biscuits and almond meal in the bowl of a food processor and process until coarsely chopped. Add the butter and process to combine. Press the biscuit mixture into the base and sides of a lightly greased 22cm springform cake tin lined with non-stick baking paper. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
Place the ricotta and cream cheese in the bowl of an electric mixer or food processor and beat for 5–6 minutes or until smooth. Add the sugar and beat for 3–4 minutes or until combined. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the golden syrup, table salt and 1 teaspoon of vanilla and beat until well combined. Spoon the mixture into the biscuit shell. Place the tin in a baking dish and pour in enough boiling water to come halfway up the sides of the tin. Bake for 1 hour 30 minutes or until firm to the touch. Remove cheesecake from the baking dish and allow to cool in the tin.
Refrigerate for 3 hours or until set. Place the cream, sour cream, icing sugar and remaining vanilla in a bowl and whisk until soft peaks form. Top the cheesecake with the cream, drizzle with the caramel sauce and sprinkle with sea salt flakes to serve. Serves 8–10.