Oreo Cheesecake

Oreo Cheesecake Recipe

This recipe yields a 7" cake

250g plain yoghurt

250g cream cheese (room temperature)

2 1/2 tbsp gelatin powder

100mlwater

75gcastor sugar

200g oreo cookies (excluding cream)

80g unsalted butter

40g oreo cookies (excluding cream)

20ml whipped cream (I used non-dairy ones)

8 slices mini oreo

Method

This is the Oreo I chose to use. This pack is perfect for this recipe with no wastage (except for the cream).

Remove the cream from all the cookies. Weigh out 200g of it and have it in a plastic bag or ziplock bag. 

Crush it till it's small and crumbly. I used the back of my mooncake mould! 

Melt the butter over a double boiler or in the microwave oven on medium high heat for a minute or till melted. Allow it to cool before pouring it into the bag of biscuits.

Shake the bag to mix the butter and biscuits. You should get something like wet sand. For this cake, you may choose to use either a baking tin with removable base or a cake ring. For this cake today, I used a cake ring. Springform pans are okay but I just don't like them. I feel that the first two choices creates a cleaner cake. 

Pour mixture into cake ring.

Using the back of a spoon or big spoon (easier to work with), smooth out the mixture and compress it as best as you can, ensuring that the sides are well compressed. Pop into the freezer to set while you prepare the cream cheese component.

In a microwavable bowl, have the water and gelatin mixed together. Microwave on medium-high heat for a minute or till mixture is all dissolved. Allow to cool. You may chose to do this over a double boiler too.

This is the cream cheese I used today. 

In a mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese and the sugar. Whisk well on low speed till mixture is creamy. 

Add in the gelatin mixture. Whisk well on low speed till well combined.

You should get something like this.

This is the yoghurt that I used.

Add the 2 packets of plain yoghurt into the mixing bowl. Mix well on low speed till well combined.

Break up the remaining 40g of Oreo cookies into smaller pieces and put them into the bowl. 

Stir to mix well. Deliberately crush some of the cookies into smaller pieces in the mixing bowl so as to flavour the mixture even more. A spatula works for this.  

Pour mixture into cake ring. Smooth the top as much as you can with the spatula.

Decorate with the small Oreo cookies. I pushed them 1/3 way into the mixture. Place cake in freezer for 1.5 - 2 hours to firm up. If you poke a toothpick into the middle of the cake and it is clean and not moist, it is ready. Bring cake down to chiller once cake is set.

Whip up the fresh cream till stiff peaks are formed.

Pipe the fresh cream onto the cake. I used Wilton tip 32. To remove cake, run a small paring knife gently along the sides of the cake. The cake ring should then slide easily upwards to reveal a beautiful cake.

Enjoy this beautiful treat! (:

Check out the video tutorial here: 

Here are some tips and things to note when 'baking' this cake! (:

1) Do be precise with your measurements, especially the gelatin. This is the type of baking tablespoon to use:

Image taken from http://www.bakingshop.com/bc/img/MSP-47118.jpg

2) Do warm up the gelatin. If you do not have a microwave oven, you may boil it over very low fire to warm it up. 

3) Do watch the timing when setting the cake. Remove it from the freezer after the cake is set. Store the cake in the chiller. The cake stores best in an air tight container.

4) The cake contains cream cheese and even if it doesn't melt, I do not recommend leaving this for long in room temperature.

5) Do not leave the batter out for too long when preparing the cheesecake. It will firm up. 

6) The cake should be consumed within 3 - 4 days for maximum freshness.