Chocolate-Orange Cheesecake
No-bake cheesecakes are the easier version of ice-cream cake, in my opinion. I tried this version as a birthday cake for my husband last year. Despite the lackluster "finish", it was appreciated and relished. I tried to skimp on the "fat", and the consistency of the filling suffered as a result. If you're going for a cheesecake, just go with the full fat versions of cheese/cream, or compromise on how the cake appears :).
Ingredients:
For the crust and filling
- 1 pack of chocolate oreo cookies (about 12-14 cookies)
- 1/4 cup melted butter
- 1.5 blocks of cream cheese (about ~ 12 ounces)
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 3/4 cup confectioner's sugar (powdered sugar)
- 1 teaspoon orange extract
- 2 tablespoons orange zest (grated orange peel)
- some orange food coloring (optional)
For the Ganache
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate, chopped roughly
- 1/4 teaspoon orange extract
Preparation:
- Grind the oreo cookies (with filling) by periodically pulsing until they turn into crumbs
- Mix the melted butter with the cookie crumbs and pack them into a 9 inch springform pan. Pat the bottom and a little bit on the sides of the pan. Place in the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes while the filling is prepared
- Whip the cream (make sure the cream is cold) until soft peaks form.
- Separately whip together the cream cheese, sugar, orange extract, orange zest, and food coloring until smooth.
- Add the whipped cream and gently fold into the mixture.
- Evenly spread this filling into the chilled oreo crust, and return to the fridge
- Bring the cream to a simmer in a saucepan (do not let it boil). Turn off the heat, add the chopped chocolate, stir briefly and cover the pan. Let it rest for 10 minutes. Stir again (with a whisk) until the ganache is smooth. Let it cool for another 5 minutes, and gently stir again to ensure there are no lumps
- Pour the ganache on top of the cheesecake filling.
- Let the cheesecake rest in the fridge overnight to set
- Gently run a warm knife around the edges of the pan and remove the springform side. Slice and serve!
Notes/lessons learned: I used reduced fat cream cheese and directly added it to the whipped cream, so my filling was not as smooth as I would have liked. Go for the full fat version, and separately add the whipped cream to the beaten cream cheese for a smoother, richer filling.
