Jordin Shelly, owner and chocolatier of Cocoa Africa was invited to the Hirsch’s Hillcrest branch as part of the Hirsch’s and Elba Uplifting Local Caterers programme. It was a morning of demonstrating all things decadent chocolate . The Chocolate Extravaganza At Hirsch’s With Cocoa Africa And Elba included how to make a divine white chocolate cheesecake with chocolate shards. Needless to say, everyone was totally engaged as she went through the steps to create this delectable master piece.
Cocoa Africa specializes in handcrafted, bespoke chocolate bonbons and bars. Their chocolates are hand painted, shelled and filled using high quality coverture chocolate and ingredients. Their desire is to give customers a unique and memorable chocolate experience, from the moment they receive their box to the very last bite.
Chocoholics gather for this simply delectable recipe!
Decadent White Chocolate Cheesecake with Chocolate shard décor:
Cheesecake:
300g white chocolate
450g full fat cream cheese
450ml cream
2tsp fresh lemon juice
1 ½ tsp vanilla
Biscuit Base:
260g nutty crust biscuits
70g soft butter
Decadent Chocolate shards:
200g White chocolate
Food colouring
Method
- Place the chocolate into a heatproof bowl to create a double boiler with a saucepan. Fill the saucepan with enough water to create steam, you want the bowl to sit above the water level. Place the saucepan and bowl onto a low heat and gently melt the chocolate down, remember to stir occasionally. Once the chocolate has melted remove the bowl from your saucepan and allow to cool.
- Begin with your biscuit base as the white chocolate cools. Place your biscuits into a food processer and blitz until you have crumbs, not too fine. Add butter and process again until well mixed. Mixture becomes almost clumpy. Press the mixture into a 20cm springform cake tin, using the bottom of a flat glass works well.
- In a bowl, add your room temperature cream cheese and lightly beat to smooth out and remove any lumps. Add your warm (not hot) white chocolate and mix or beat well together, once well mixed add your lemon juice and vanilla, mix again.
- Lightly whip your cream in a clean bowl, the cream must become thick and fluffy but not form peaks. Gently fold in your whipped cream into your cream cheese mixture, once fully combined, pour over your biscuit base and smooth over. Cover and place in the fridge overnight.
Decadent Chocolate shard décor:
- Temper or melt your white chocolate and divide into a number of bowls for your desired number of different colours.
- Add your choiceof food colouring to your tempered coverture chocolate or melted baking chocolate, always start with less and add more as needed. Ensure colour is mixed thoroughly.
- Add a good ‘blob’ +/- 10ml chocolate onto some baking paper.
- Using a flat spatula or dessert spoon, smear the‘blob’ of white chocolate across some baking paper to create a brush stroke effect. You can get creative here, nothing has to be perfect to make a unique masterpiece.
- Allow to cool and set before peeling off the baking paper and sticking onto the side of your set cheesecake. You can use a bit of melted chocolate to stick the shards onto the side of your cheesecake.
- Your gorgeous Christmas cheesecake is ready to impress your guests.
The cheesecake can be kept for 3 days in the fridge.
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