Peanut butter and chocolate cheesecake

I first made this cheesecake for the Hog’s birthday last year. He’s a real peanut butter fiend and enjoyed this way more than any birthday cake!

It was originally based on a Nigella recipe, but like many of her creations, it looked better than it tasted. As such, I’ve adapted the recipe to make it sweeter and added more peanut butter to the mix. The original topping has been completely changed and I think this recipe now works a lot better than the original (the Hog agrees).

Ingredients

Base
200g digestive biscuits
50g unsalted butter (soft)

Filling
500g soft cream cheese
3 medium eggs
3 medium egg yolks
225g caster sugar
125ml sour cream
300g smooth peanut butter

Topping
100g good quality dark chocolate
100g icing sugar
100g unsalted butter
3tbsp milk
6 Reece’s mini peanut butter cups (halved)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 170C.

2. Crush the digestives and mix in the soft butter until fully incorporated. Press firmly into base of a 23cm springform tin and put in the fridge.

3. Put the ingredients for the filling into a bowl and mix together using an electric whisk or hand whisk until smooth.

4. Pour mix on to the base in the chilled tin and cook in oven for 50 minutes.

5. Check if the top is set and just dry or cook for further 10 minutes.

6. Remove cheesecake from oven and allow to cool (if the cheesecake is too warm when you pour on the topping, you will lose the shine as it cools)

7. To make the topping, sift the icing sugar into a glass bowl and add other ingredients.

8. Heat gently over a pan of just simmering water and to melt the ingredients. Do not allow mix to become too hot or it will split!

9. Take off the heat when all ingredients have mixed together and are glossy.

Allow to cool slightly before pouring the topping over the cheesecake. Places the halved Reece’s peanut butter cups in a ring around the edge to garnish. Allow the whole thing to cool before refrigerating overnight.