Chocolate Cheesecake Recipe – Gluten-free from Phil Vickery

There’s a new gluten-free cookbook coming out this month…

Phil Vickery’s Seriously Good! Gluten-Free Baking

One look at the amazing cakes, puddings and pastries in this book and your diet will be spoilt for weeks!

Phil Vickery is a talented chef with a Michelin Star and regularly appears on This Morning and Ready Steady Cook. He is the author of several bestselling cookery books, including the bestseller Seriously Good! Gluten-free Cooking.

Seriously Good! Gluten-Free Baking is basically a collection of 100 mouthwatering gluten-free baking recipes. Recipes that coeliacs can usually only dream about.

That’s because baking is possibly the most challenging aspect of gluten-free cooking (if you didn’t know, it’s the gluten that gives bread and cakes their spngy feel). There’s a huge amount of trial and error involved. But Phil Vickery’s easy-to-follow instructions and practical advice will have you whipping up melt-in-the-mouth blueberry cheesecake, chestnut and roasted onion bread, springy scones and squidgy chocolate brownies quicker than you can say; “Have your cake and eat it.”

Seriously Good! Gluten-Free Baking by Phil Vickery is published by Kyle Cathie on 30 Sept at £19.99. You can pre-order or order it now from Amazon.

And if you keep your eyes peeled for a competition later this week you might just win your own copy!

Here’s Phil Vickery’s recipe for Chocolate Cheesecake.

“No baking book could be without a baked cheesecake – it is just the thing to satisfy a sweet tooth. Just remember not to overcook it – keep it nice and wobbly to ensure a soft melting centre.”

Makes: one 18cm round cheesecake
Preparation: 15 minutes, plus overnight chilling
Cooking: 20 minutes, plus 1 hour setting

For the base
vegetable oil, for oiling
125g rice flour
25g golden caster sugar
25g light muscovado or soft light brown sugar
75g unsalted butter, cubed

For the filling
100g dark chocolate
400g light or medium-fat cream cheese
100g golden caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
200g Greek yogurt
2 medium eggs, at room temperature

For the topping
100g frozen fruits of the forest, defrosted and drained
2 tablespoons cherry jam

Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4, and set a shelf just below the centre of the oven. Lightly oil a 6cm deep, 18cm loose-based cake tin and base-line with baking parchment.

Put the flour and sugars for the base into a food processor and blend together. Add the butter and process until the mixture forms fine crumbs and then starts to clump together. Tip the crumb mixture into the base of the prepared tin and press lightly to make an even layer. Pop the base into the oven for about 15 minutes or until cooked and pale golden brown. Remove the tin and stand it in a roasting tray.

To make the filling, melt the chocolate, in a heatproof bowl, in the microwave or over a pan of simmering water and set aside. In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla with a hand-held electric mixer and then add the yogurt and the eggs, one at a time. Mix until well blended, then pour the melted chocolate into the bowl and mix until smooth. Pour the filling over the base in the tin and shake gently, to level.

Bake for 20 minutes: it will have just set around the edges but still be wobbly in the middle. Turn the oven off and leave the cheesecake in there to cool slowly for 1 hour; it will continue to cook – and this helps to avoid the top cracking – so don’t open the oven door.

Refrigerate until ready to serve, preferably overnight.

To serve, loosen the edges of the cheesecake with a spatula and unmould onto a plate. Crush the fruits lightly, combine with the jam and spoon on top.

To Store: The cheesecake will keep for up to 2 days, in an airtight container, in the fridge.
To Freeze: Freeze, uncovered, without the fruit topping. Once frozen, wrap well in clingfilm and foil and return to the freezer. Top with the fruit once defrosted.