There are a lot of interesting ways to serve cakes. Decoratively speaking, they can be served in beautiful shapes topped with garnishes or coupled with sides. Take cheesecake for example. One interesting way to serve the dessert is to mold it into bars topped with white chocolate drizzled with bittersweet chocolate. This recipe is by far the simplest way to do all of this as it calls a no-bake cheesecake base.

The recipe

Crust Ingredients:

  • 12 oz graham crackers, ground
  • 1/4 stick unsalted butter, melted
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar

Batter Ingredients:

  • 3 packs (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • zest from 1 lemon
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 cup heavy cream

Chocolate Cutouts Ingredients:

  • 8 oz white couverture chocolate, chopped
  • 1 tbsp unsalted butter
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 2 oz bittersweet chocolate melted

The Directions

Crust Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 176°C. Grease a 9 x 13" springform rectangular cheesecake pan with a small knob of butter. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Let it cool.
  2. Grind the graham crackers and brown sugar together in a food processor. While grinding, slowly pour the melted butter into the mixture.
  3. Spread out the mix into the springform pan with a rubber spatula. Bake for 12 minutes or until the crust turns brown and crisp.
  4. Remove and set to cool.

Cheesecake Directions:

  1. Beat the cream cheese, sugar, and lemon zest with an electric mixer until soft and smooth. Beat in the vanilla extract until fully combined.
  2. Beat the heavy cream in a bowl until it forms soft peaks. Fold 1/2 of the heavy cream into the batter until fully combined. Do the same with the remaining heavy cream.
  3. Pour over the baked crust and level evenly with a rubber spatula. Refrigerate for 3-4 hours.

Chocolate Cutout Directions:

  1. Chop the chocolate finely with a sharp chef knife. Place the chopped chocolate, butter, and salt in a bowl over simmering water. Start stirring the chocolate when it melts to incorporate it with the other ingredients. Keep stirring until it melts. Test the temperature with a candy thermometer and do not let it exceed 43 °C.
  2. Pour the melted chocolate, in a row, over a sheet of acetate or parchment lined baking sheet. Spread the melted chocolate out to a 9 x 13" rectangle with an offset spatula. Shake the baking sheet to help spread the chocolate evenly. Leave it to set for a few minutes, then refrigerate for 15 minutes.
  3. Remove the baking sheet from the refrigerator. Cut out three rows horizontally and four rows vertically using a hot knife. Return to the refrigerator for 15 more minutes.

Assembly Directions:

  1. Remove the cheesecake from the springform pan. Cut out rows similar to the chocolate and place each slice of cheesecake on cookie sheet.
  2. Place a chocolate cutout flat on top of each slice correspondingly.
  3. When serving, drizzle melted bittersweet chocolate on top of the white chocolate cutouts in desired patterns.
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED