I recently entered the Bikko’s Bake Off competition that was being run by Robern Menz.  I was very disappointed not to be one of the two lucky winners who will enjoying a day out with Robern Menz.  Congratulations to the choc mint cheesecake brownie and the dark chocolate salted caramel slice!

But everything has a silver lining and, in this case, it means I have a recipe all typed up and ready to go!  I was really happy with my photograph, too – quite a departure from my normal woeful efforts.

My creation was a two tone cheesecake:  chocolate and vanilla.  This was a bit of a departure from my usual cheesecake recipe, because I didn’t buy quite enough cream cheese.  However, I think this mix is better and it retains its two massive plus points:   no gelatine, so suitable for vegetarians and no eggs so suitable for those who don’t eat eggs.*

As it was a Bikko’s competition, my creation had to include Bikko’s, so I used milk chocolate ones in the base, and a layer of dark chocolate ones through the centre of the cake.

This is a set cheesecake so you do need to start it a little ahead of when you want to eat it!

Start with the base.

Grease and baseline a 23cm springform tin.

Coarsely crush 125g of milk chocolate Bikko’s and 50g of your favourite cheesecake base biscuits (I used gingernuts).

In a heavy bottomed frying pan, gently dry toast 80g of rolled oats.  Watch them carefully and as they start to brown, add 100g of unsalted butter (cubed, rather than in one big lump).  When the butter has melted, add the crushed Bikko’s and biscuits and stir for a little so the chocolate on the Bikko’s starts to melt too.

Gently press the mixture into the base of the tin.  The more firmly you compact down the biscuit base the harder it’s going to be and, while you want it to hold together, you don’t want people to be breaking their teeth.  I find that the quantities given above provide exactly the right amount for the base.

Place the tin in the fridge and start work on your filling.

I put the chocolate filling on the bottom, so that’s next.  Beat 300g cream cheese with 50g of sour cream until smooth (if you have a stand mixer, use this – the colder the cream cheese is the longer it will take to get it smooth but it’s worth it).  Mix in 75g of caster sugar.

Melt 100g of best quality dark chocolate (either in a bain-marie or in the microwave), allow it to cool slightly and stir into the cream cheese mix.

Whisk 150mL of cream (reasonably firm peaks, but not butter!) and fold this into the cream cheese mix.

Spread this mix over the cooled and set biscuit base.  Level it off and cover with 125g of dark chocolate Bikko’s, lightly pressing them into the mix.  Return to the fridge to set (at least an hour).

Now make the vanilla mix.  This is essentially the same as the chocolate mix but use 1tsp of vanilla bean paste instead of the 100g of chocolate.  Spread this mix evenly over the Bikko’s layer and return the cake to the fridge to set (again, another hour at least).

When ready to serve, grate over dark chocolate and job’s a good’un.

*Note that if you want to make the whole cheesecake egg free you need to choose your biscuits carefully.  Anzac biscuits (homemade) are an excellent egg free base material.