It was the U3A AGM yesterday. We offer tea and biscuits usually, but because it was the AGM we upgraded to cakes. I decided to take some cheesecakes in ramekins. I did a strawberry topped one and this salted caramel using a recipe I’ve used before. The strawberry ones looked very pretty and were rapidly snaffled. But I forgot to take a picture of one before I went. There were 2 salted caramel ones left, so I could take a picture of that type this morning.

What do I need to make No Bake Caramel Cheesecake

• Base
• digestive biscuits value ones are fine
• butter, melted

 

• Cheesecake
• soft (cream) cheese, the value one, no need for a branded version
• muscovado sugar, this gives extra flavour, but you could use ordinary granulated sugar if you like
• Greek yogurt, the extra thickness of a Greek yogurt is needed here
• condensed milk, supermarket branded is quite a bit cheaper
• salt, just a pinch

 

• Topping
• caramel condensed milk

 

How to make this no gelatin cheesecake

Use an 18cm to 20cm loose bottomed cake tin. Or if you use small ramekins like I have here, you would get 4 or 5 individual portions

Base

• Melt the butter in a microwave or a small saucepan
• Crush the biscuits into even crumbs using a rolling pin and a bag, in a bowl or a food processor
• Mix the pulverised biscuit crumbs and the melted butter.
• If you are using 1 x 20cm tin, line the base to assist in removing the completed cheesecake later
• Now press them into the base of the tin or the ramekins, pressing down firmly. If you don’t do this, the base won’t stick together and will just crumbs.

Cheesecake

• Mix all the filling ingredients together and make sure the sugar has dissolved. Unless of course you would like little molten islands of muscovado in the mix, which would be delicious
• Put some greaseproof, clingfilm or waxed paper round the sides of the tin to help you remove the cheesecake from the tin later on. If you are using ramekins, they are fine just as they are.
• Pile the cheese mixture into the tin or divide between ramekins, on top of the biscuits, smooth over and leave in the fridge to set. It won’t set hard, but it will firm up enough so you can slice it after a couple of hours.

Topping

• Meanwhile, empty the caramel condensed milk into a saucepan and heat gently until runny. Don’t boil it. Stir in half a teaspoon of ordinary salt and stir well to distribute.
• Drizzle the warmed salted caramel over the top of the cheesecake(s) until it is as thick as you like it, you may not need it all, and pop back in the fridge to firm up.
• When you are ready to serve, remove the tin from the fridge and pop up the base. Remove the lining paper from the sides and put the cheesecake on a small plate. Or if you are using individual dishes, just pop those on a plate or serve as is.

 

What was the salted caramel cheesecake like?

If you like salted caramel, you’ll love this! You could either use half the tin of caramel, and the remaining half for something else. Or make the whole can salted caramel and use the remainder on ice cream, pancakes, bananas etc etc There are many, many uses for salted caramel!

I love the flavour of muscovado,  but you could use ordinary granulated if you prefer or if that’s what you have in.

Other flavours to top your no bake cheesecake

• You could leave it plain and not have any topping at all, really delicious just as it is.
• Mix mix frozen berries with a little sugar and leave to infuse. As the berries defrost, the sugar will draw out some of the juice and make a yummy sauce to drizzle over.
• I will definitely do this again without the caramel and use fine grated lemon zest and a little juice. It would work well with orange or lime as well, grapefruit maybe? In these cases I would use ordinary granulated sugar. A plain vanilla one would be lovely.
• Make an intense and sweet or sharp fruit compote, whizz it, and stir gently through the cheesecake mix after piling it on top of the crumbs to give a marbled effect
• Almost any fruit compote will be delicious on top of this cheesecake. Summer raspberries from the garden, or value frozen ones. Frozen strawberries, left to defrost with a tiny bit of sugar to make a jus.
• Some drained value mandarins, maybe with melted chocolate drizzled on top,
  • or chocolate chips mixed into the cheesecake.
  • Sliced grapes and banana
  • Kiwi and grapes
  • Caramelised apples fried in butter.
• Finely sliced oranges simmered in sugar and a tiny bit of water to caramelise them
  • clementines simmered in water for half an hour or microwaved for 5 minutes or until very soft, remove the pips and pulverise them, sweeten if necessary
• For a mango and ginger cheesecake, try this delicious looking instant pot version from corriecooks.com
• You could make some nut brittle, using some shards, or pulverise it and serve it with or on top of the cheesecake.
• And if you are really clever, you could do some spun sugar!

Other easy to make puddings you might like

Easy Poached Pears Without Alcohol

Old fashioned self saucing chocolate pudding. Quick and easy, no complicated method, and a mere 21p a serving

Baked Marmalade Sponge