Ombré Cheesecake Recipe

It's no secret that I love birthdays, or any celebration that encourages a buffet table and decorations!

And this year I was determined to make Rich's birthday cake. So the best thing is to go for something simple and easy right? Noooo, let's go for a multi layer ombré cheesecake!

It's actually easier than you think. The trick is to make it in 2 tins.

This is a no bake, no fuss recipe for anyone wanting to try out cheesecake making like me for the first time. There are lots of recipes on the internet but this is mine, cobbled together with a phone call from my mum and the lovely lady at the cake shop near me, who helped me with the icing colours!

Ingredients:

Biscuit base -

• 1 packet Hobnob biscuits or 300g of the biscuit of your choice.
• Generous handful of popping candy
• 50g butter
• 1 teaspoon golden syrup
• Handful of blueberries

Per layer - 

• 500g or roughly 2 tubs cream cheese. I used Philadelphia.
• Food colouring. I used Sugarflair Paste Colours Navy, Eucalyptus and Grape Violet to add a hint of white for the top layer. 
• 1 tablespoon orange blossom water
• 160ml double cream
• 60g icing sugar

Method:

This is a no bake, no real fuss recipe, all you need is patience. This makes a tall cheesecake so be prepared for a cream cheese feast. 

Biscuit base -

Take your biscuits, break them into quarters and place them in a freezer bag or wrap in cling film. Beat them with a rolling pin until you have a lovely bag of crumbs. Add to a mixing bowl.

Melt your butter and pour into the bowl of biscuit crumbs. Stir together and add your teaspoon of golden syrup. Add your popping candy and mix through.

Take your deep 8 inch cake tin (Make sure it has a removable base so you can push the base upwards when removing your cheesecake layers.) and spread your biscuit mix evenly across the bottom. Sprinkle your blueberries over your base layer and push a few further into the mix. 

Now you need to make your first coloured layer. 

Cheesecake layer -

Empty your cream cheese into a mixing bowl and whisk. You will feel it change consistency to a more fluid texture. Stop whisking. You can use an electric whisk but I just used a hand whisk as I didn't want to over beat it. By hand it took about 4 minutes. 

Add your orange blossom water and stir through.

Now it's time to colour your layer. Using a cocktail stick, dip the end in the colour paste and gentle cut through your mix. Mix thoroughly and keep adding a little more colouring until you are satisfied with the colour. I added approximately half a teaspoon full of the navy for the darkest layer. 

In a separate bowl whisk up your double cream until it becomes a thick consistency. Fold into your cream cheese gently. Keep mixing carefully until all the mix is the same colour. 

Add your sieved icing sugar into the mix and sir through.

Dollop your mix on top of the biscuit layer and use the back of a knife to smooth over the top. 

Now place this first tin, with your bottom two layers in the freezer. I set mine for a couple of hours in the freezer then transferred to the fridge overnight.

I told you, you need patience for this cheesecake!

In your second tin, repeat the cheesecake layer steps freezing the first to set whilst you mix up the final layer.

To get your top layer looking white more than cream, add the tiniest amount of grape violet colouring, again on the end of a cocktail stick to your mix. The violet colour combats the yellow tone.

Place back in the freezer for a couple of hours then transfer to the fridge.

The next day you can put your completed cake together. 

This is the fun bit!

Take your two tins and release the biscuit layer one first. Push gently upwards releasing the tin base. Place on a cake stand.

When you release your second tin place it on top. Smooth your two layers together to avoid any hint that they were made separately! Use a palette knife or folded kitchen roll works well too. I like the slightly rough finish.

Top with blueberries, slices of orange and a few blue hydrangea petals if you have them to hand. if not a dusting of icing sugar would look fabulous. 

Eat and feel stuffed :)

The cheesecake was the centrepiece of a buffet lunch full of Rich's favourites. King prawns to peel to remind him of holidays in Spain, bread from the local bakery, cheese, sticky buns which I added some blue icing to, fancy white chocolates and sugar mice. 

We thoroughly spoilt him on his birthday, we had best friends to stay and the house was full of balloons and decorations from the new Talking Tables Coastal range. Perfect for Daddies with style!

I think the ombré obsession is here to stay. Contemporary and sophisticated mixing rich blues with a turquoise of a Caribbean sea. Heavenly!

The cake matched with the gorgeous fabric bunting, coasters and hanging paper lanterns that I strung up over the dining table. Sometimes I find it hard to find grown up party ware, paper plates that almost feel too nice to use. Style with substance. I love that the cups, plates and napkins come in 2 colour ways. 

For a first attempt I think the colours of the cheesecake were pretty close!

I'm hoping he might make me a pinky version for my birthday out of sponge and decorate with some of the Fluorescent goodies. 

Thank you to Talking Tables for sending me such lovely party ware. Find the full range here.