This one's for Mojo, who asked me to see 'the recipe for that cheesecake you say you and all your student buddies used to serve during the early 80s'. Living in Singapore, I had to give up making it because you didn't used to be able to find double cream, without which the mixture is so soft, the word 'cake' ceases to be appropriate.
Click here to find an updated - i.e. reduced fat! - version of this totally classic easy-peasy, no-bake, no-need-to-handle-any-geletine, top-it-with-your-most-favourite-soft-fruits cheesecake.
Or this is how I remember making no-bake cheesecake back in the days when it didn't seem to matter how many calories I consumed, I didn't notice myself getting any fatter:
For the base
Take a 250g packet of McVitie's. Transfer the biscuits into a tough plastic bag, then bash/roll over the bag with a rolling pin until all that's left of the biscuits is a pile of fine biscuit crumbs. Add around 125g of unsalted melted butter and stir to combine. Transfer this mixture into a springform cake pan - 8 or 9ins should be about right and you might like to wrap a sheet of foil over the base as this will make it easier to lift the finished cake off of the pan base. Spread the crumbs around to form an even layer but avoid pressing them down at all firmly or you'll end up with a base that's really difficult to cut.
For the filling
Nobody ever described this recipe as low fat; if I'm not wrong, I used to use 10oz of full fat Philadelphia cheese, 6oz of icing sugar and 10oz of double cream. Beat the sugar plus a teaspoon of vanilla essence into the cheese, whip the cream until it's stiff and then persuade these two elements to merge with one another. (It was this part of the recipe that didn't used to work in Singapore because the only cream you could get was whipping cream, the texture of which was far too soft to blend into the Philie. ) Pile the filling into the cake pan and leave the cake in a fridge to set. The longer you leave it, the firmer the finished result will be and, as I recall, you could achieve an edible result in as little as an hour or so. Three to four hours would probably be better. You might also like to arrange some sliced fruit on the top prior to serving - strawberries / raspberries / kiwis / mango / peaches / anything soft as opposed to firm.
Or this is how I remember making no-bake cheesecake back in the days when it didn't seem to matter how many calories I consumed, I didn't notice myself getting any fatter:
For the base
Take a 250g packet of McVitie's. Transfer the biscuits into a tough plastic bag, then bash/roll over the bag with a rolling pin until all that's left of the biscuits is a pile of fine biscuit crumbs. Add around 125g of unsalted melted butter and stir to combine. Transfer this mixture into a springform cake pan - 8 or 9ins should be about right and you might like to wrap a sheet of foil over the base as this will make it easier to lift the finished cake off of the pan base. Spread the crumbs around to form an even layer but avoid pressing them down at all firmly or you'll end up with a base that's really difficult to cut.
For the filling
Nobody ever described this recipe as low fat; if I'm not wrong, I used to use 10oz of full fat Philadelphia cheese, 6oz of icing sugar and 10oz of double cream. Beat the sugar plus a teaspoon of vanilla essence into the cheese, whip the cream until it's stiff and then persuade these two elements to merge with one another. (It was this part of the recipe that didn't used to work in Singapore because the only cream you could get was whipping cream, the texture of which was far too soft to blend into the Philie. ) Pile the filling into the cake pan and leave the cake in a fridge to set. The longer you leave it, the firmer the finished result will be and, as I recall, you could achieve an edible result in as little as an hour or so. Three to four hours would probably be better. You might also like to arrange some sliced fruit on the top prior to serving - strawberries / raspberries / kiwis / mango / peaches / anything soft as opposed to firm.