Black Forest Cheesecake - recipe developed by Kate Henry for Bennett Opie Limited

Developed by former Great British Bake Off contestant Kate Henry - this is a wonderful twist on the classic 70’s cake. It looks very complicated and technical – but it isn’t. Give it a go!

For the Chocolate Shortbread base:

90g Unsalted Butter

40g Caster Sugar

100g Plain Flour

1 ½ Tablespoons Cocoa Powder

For the Cheesecake Filling:

280g Cream Cheese

200g Double Cream

100g Icing Sugar

Juice ½ Lemon

1 Jar of Opies Black Cherries with Kirsch

For the Jelly Layer:

Liquor from the Opies Black Cherries with Kirsch

3 Sheets of Gelatine

For the Chocolate Ganache

100ml Double Cream

100g Dark Chocolate – Chopped Finely

15cm/6inch high sided spring form or loose bottomed cake tin. Lined (base and sides) with baking paper.

Set Oven to Fan 160C

1. To make the shortbread. Rub together all ingredients and mix well until it form a dough. Squish the dough into the base of the cake tin and smooth surface. Prick the surface with a fork all over and place in preheated oven for 20 minutes. Remove and allow to cool completely.
2. To make the cream cheese layer, whisk all the ingredients together apart from the cherries until thick and stiff.
3. Spoon half of the mix into cake tin on top of cooled shortbread layer. Take the jarred cherries and drain them retaining the liquor, set aside 10 of the best looking ones to decorate at the end and squish the other cherries into the cream cheese mixture in the tin then scoop the rest of the cream cheese over the top. Refrigerate.
4. Next make the jelly layer. In a small bowl filled with cold water, place the gelatine leaves to soften for around 10 minutes.
5. Meanwhile add the kirsch liquor from the jar into a small saucepan and gently heat.
6. Squeeze out the excess water the gelatine leaves and add to the warmed kirsch liquor, stir to dissolve.
7. Allow to cool to room temp and then pour over the cream cheese layer and replace back in the fridge to set.
8. Next make the ganache. Place the chocolate (finely chopped) into a heat proof bowl and heat the cream in a saucepan until just boiling. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and nudge the chocolate very gently to help melt.
9. Once cool, whisk the ganache until light and fluffy and place in a piping bag.
10. Remove the chilled cheesecake carefully from the tin and unwrap the baking paper.
11. Pipe swirls of ganache in a circle around the edge of the jelly layer on the top of the cheesecake and pop a cherry on top of each swirl to finish.

Opies Black Cherries in Kirsch (390g £3.99) available from Tesco, Waitrose & Ocado

SAMPLES AVAILABLE - please just get in touch if you'd like to try!

Lesley Parr

Splat Marketing & PR

07754 482139 / 01538 381884

lesley@splat-marketing.co.uk

@SplatPR

Bennett Opie Limited:

Bennett Opie is one of the oldest, private family-owned food companies in the UK and is based in Sittingbourne, Kent. For over a century Bennett Opie Limited has endeavoured to create, produce and distribute high quality products that include a wide range of cocktail products, speciality pickles, chutneys, olives, ginger, luxury fruits, sauces and compotes under the Opies brand.

Bennett Opie is also the sole distributor for a number of chosen partner brands including Monin, Lingham’s Chilli Sauce, Barry Norman Pickled Onions, Ferns Curry Pastes, Delice du Provence and Clément Faugier chestnuts. Opies is an established export brand that has been recognised for the Queens Award for Export and is currently sold to 25 countries worldwide.

Website: www.opiesfoods.com Twitter @OpiesFoods

Kate Henry:

Kate Henry had the nation gripped as she cooked up a storm on BBC 1’s prime time show The Great British Bake Off 2014.

Originally from Cambridgeshire, Kate now lives in Brighton with her young daughter Eloise. She is naturally creative; Kate trained as an actress and worked in advertising and design agencies before setting up her own upholstery company. This creativity comes to the fore in Kate’s baking. She loves to experiment with flavours, combining them in unusual and exciting ways. Kate thrives on taking risks and inventing new recipes – with some wonderful results. As a child Kate baked for her family; rock cakes were a firm favourite! Needless to say Kate shares her passion with her daughter, who follows in her mother’s footsteps in creating her own recipes with unusual ingredients: Marmite being one.

Kate runs ‘Secret Treacle Supper Clubs’ in Brighton. Website: www. katehenry.co.uk Twitter: @Treaclebakes

Agent: Martine Carter, Sauce Management Ltd, London W12 8LE martine@saucemanagement.com T: 0208 600 3610 / 07825 720018 www.saucemanagement.com