Blackberry Cheesecake

Recipe for a creamy, fresh cheesecake with blackberries and blackberry jelly.

Course Dessert

Cuisine Danish

Total Time 6

Servings people

Melt the butter in a saucepan.
Blitz the biscuits to fine crumbs, and blitz the almonds until finely chopped — the almonds can keep a little texture.
Mix the biscuits and almonds with the butter.
Line the base of a springform tin with baking paper, then fit an acetate collar around the inside of the ring. If using a cake ring, place it on a chopping board with a piece of baking paper underneath, and line the inside of the ring with acetate.
Tip the biscuit mixture into the tin, and press it out firmly so the whole base is covered. Chill in the fridge and let it rest.

Put all the ingredients in a saucepan, including the empty vanilla pod, and bring to the boil.
Let the blackberry syrup boil over a medium heat for approx. 10-15 minutes, until well reduced and slightly thickened.
Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve — you should have approx. 200 ml syrup. Top up with a little water if needed.
Pour 150 ml of the syrup into a bowl, and let it cool completely. Pour the rest into a small saucepan — this will be used to dissolve the gelatine in. (See the next step "Cream cheese filling")

Soak the gelatine in a large bowl of cold water for approx. 15 minutes.
Whip the cream to soft peaks — take care not to over-whip it.
Stir the cream cheese into the whipped cream, then stir in the cooled blackberry syrup, a little at a time. Stir until the mixture is smooth and free of lumps.
Heat the remaining blackberry syrup in the saucepan — it just needs to be hot enough to melt the gelatine, and does not need to boil.
Turn off the heat, and stir in the soaked, squeezed-out gelatine sheets, one at a time.
Fold a couple of large spoonfuls of the cream cheese filling into the saucepan to cool the mixture down, and stir until free of lumps.
Doing this prevents the gelatine from setting into lumps when it is stirred into the large bowl of filling, as it is gently brought down to the same temperature as the filling.
Then fold the blackberry/gelatine syrup into the cream cheese filling, and stir until you have a smooth cream.
Pour the filling over the biscuit base — spread it out with a spoon if needed, and tap the tin gently on the worktop to knock any air bubbles out of the mixture.
Return the cake to the fridge, and let it set for at least 3 hours.

Soak the gelatine in a large bowl of cold water for approx. 15 minutes.
Put the blackberries, water, lemon juice and sugar in a saucepan and bring to the boil.
Turn down to a medium heat and let it simmer for approx. 5-8 minutes, until the blackberries are soft and completely broken down.
Strain the purée through a fine-mesh sieve — there must be no lumps in the juice. You should end up with 250 ml blackberry juice; if there is not enough, top up with a little water.
Stir the gelatine into the hot blackberry juice until dissolved, and let it cool to approx. 30 °C.
Pour the blackberry juice over the cake, and return it to the fridge for at least 2 hours or until the jelly has set. It is a good idea to leave it overnight.
Before serving, top the cake with fresh berries, chocolate balls and/or edible flowers. Use whatever the season has to offer.