Berry Nice Ice-cream Cheesecake

KT has nicknamed the pharmacy I work in "The Laidback Chemist" for a good reason; it hardly gets busy during the day when I work , so I spend most of the time at the back watching cooking shows on TV. One of my favourite shows is Huey's Cooking Adventures (3:30pm, Mondays - Fridays, Channel Ten). The half an hour cooking slot is jam-packed with interesting recipes (certainly adventurous; have you ever heard of WATERMELON CURRY with seared swordfish?) and useful cooking tips. I have tried some of Huey's recipes, but it's this particular recipe from which I have had some good reviews (KT said that even a friend who's a chef at this super-posh restaurant - The Wharf - deigned to try it!), so here it is, with some variations to the recipe:

I call it Berry Nice Ice-cream Cheesecake:

Ingredients:

For the cake base:

2 cups crushed sweet biscuits (I usually use digestive biscuits because they're less sweet; this time around I used Cole's "Nice biscuits" because I wondered how biscuits could not taste nice - the result was a very nice base indeed!)

175 melted butter

For the cake:

1/2 cup unrefined sugar (Huey's recipe: 3/4 cup castor sugar; I didn't have castor sugar, castor sugar would have made the cake much smoother I suppose, and I didn't want the cake to be too sweet!)

500 g Philadelphia cream cheese (softened) (Huey's recipe 375 g; my cake would have been much cheesier then!)

200 g frozen raspberries

1 L vanilla ice-cream (softened)

For the topping:

Fresh berries (I used fresh strawberries and blueberries)

Frozen raspberries

Marsala wine (Huey's recipe called for Orange Liquor - Curaçao - but I didn't want to buy a whole bottle; I had some Marsala left over from my tiramisu adventure, so I used Marsala instead, turned out to be nice and mellow as opposed to the tartness of orange liquor I suppose?)

Method:

Prepare the cake base:

1. Mix the crushed biscuits with the melted butter.

2. Flatten the mixture into a springform tin.

3. Put the tin into the fridge for 30 minutes to allow the base to set.

Meanwhile, prepare the cake mixture:

1. Blend cream cheese and sugar in a food processor until smooth.

2. Pour mixture into a bowl.

3. Purée the frozen raspberries in the food processor.

4. Add the puréed raspberries to the cream cheese and sugar mixture. Mix with a

spatula until well-combined.

5. Gradually add the vanilla ice-cream to the mixture.

6. Pour mixture into the springform tin (with the set cake base).

7. I put some of the fresh blueberries into the cake mixture - not according to

recipe, but just to try out.

8. Put the tin into the freezer to set the cake.

To prepare the pièce de résistance - the berry topping:

1. Quarter the strawberries.

2. Soak the berries into the liquor - this process is called maceration - to soften

the berries and allow the flavour to develop in the liquor.

Prior to serving, thaw the cake slightly by leaving it in the fridge for a while. Cut into slices and top with the berry topping. Enjoy! I know I did!

Berry Nice Ice-cream Cheesecake