Amy's Reese's Pieces Cheesecake

If you were lucky enough to attend our March cakeup at Smoque, you would have seen the glorious cheesecake that was Amy's Reese's pieces cake. It was decadent. It was delicious. It was divine. And lucky for us, Amy has shared the recipe! 

Reese’s Pieces Cheesecake 

(Original recipe from the Not Quite Nigella Blog: http://www.notquitenigella.com/2011/01/19/chocolate-peanut-butter-cup-cheesecake/ )

Crust

-280g chocolate biscuits blitzed in food processor until fine

-85 g melted butter

-50 g Cadbury Flake bar

Filling

-750g (3 blocks) cream cheese

-4 eggs

-1/2 cup caster sugar

-200g smooth peanut butter

-1/2 teaspoon plus a pinch of salt

-10 Reese's peanut butter cups plus extra to decorate

Mousse topping

-1 sheet titanium strength gelatin leaf

-1 cup thickened cream

-2 large egg yolks

-1 1/2 tablespoons sugar

-50g milk chocolate, chopped


Procedure

-Preheat the oven to 160C/320F and find a baking tray that will fit your 22cm springform tin so that you can make a water bath for the cheesecake that goes halfway up the cake. 

-For the crust, mix the butter and biscuits and press into the base and and up the sides of a 22cm springform pan. Sprinkle the crushed chocolate flake bar all over the biscuit base. Set aside in the refrigerator.

-Put a kettleful of water on the boil. In the cleaned food processor beat the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add eggs one at a time and the peanut butter and salt and beat until smooth but do not overbeat.

-Take out the biscuit base. Put 2 layers of foil around the tin to prevent any water from the water bath from getting in (use the wider width foil if you have it).

-Place tin in a deep baking dish and pour half the cream cheese filling into the foil lined tin.

-Submerge the Reese's peanut butter cups into the cheesecake, then top with the other half of the filling. Then pour the boiling water from the kettle around the cheesecake so that it sits in a bath being careful not to splash any on the cheesecake itself.

-Carefully transfer to the oven and bake for 1 1/4 hours although you may want to check at 1 hour. The outside should be set and the inside with a hint of wobble which will firm up in the fridge. Remove the foil and cool on a wire rack and when cold, place in the fridge overnight covered with clingfilm.

-For chocolate mousse, dissolve the gelatin in a small bowl of cold water and let stand for 5 minutes until it soft and pliable-squeeze out any excess water. In a saucepan over moderate heat, cook the cream until it bubbles around the edges. In another bowl, whisk together egg yolks and sugar. Pour about 1/2 cup hot cream into the egg yolks slowly while whisking vigorously. Then slowly pour the egg mixture into the saucepan of cream (whisking constantly) and add chocolate. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and whisk in the gelatin. Place mixture into a wide bowl to allow it to cool for a bit, then chill it for just a little while not until set, but until its not so runny. Pour the mixture onto the top of the cheesecake and refrigerate at least one hour or overnight. Decorate with chopped Reese’s cups.