FINDERS BLACKBERRY CHEESECAKE

In our previous blog post The Finders Journey - Bold Blackberry Gin Liqueur we introduced you to the second spirit in the Finders Location Series. When creating our Bold Blackberry Gin Liqueur we took our award winning Australian Dry Gin & steeped it with Huntley Berry Farm Blackberries from Orange, NSW. The end result is a sweet, slightly tart spirit, with notes of vanilla over the rich blackberry flavour. It’s a decadent dessert gin that is delicious down to the last drop.

Being a dessert gin liqueur what better way to enjoy it than in a dessert! We reached out to recipe developer Breda Fenn from Unamascreative to come up with something special to pair with our spirit and she did not disappoint. Find the recipe to make this delicious dessert yourself below.

Finders Blackberry Cheesecake

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 1 hour and 10 minutes plus cooling time

Ingredients

Base

250g pack of Butternut Snap cookies

60g almonds

120g unsalted butter, melted

Filling

500g cream cheese at room temperature

100g mascarpone

100g caster sugar

Zest of 1 lemon

1 vanilla pod, seeds scraped and pod reserved

4 eggs

2 Tbsp plain flour

200g frozen or fresh blackberries

Blackberry sauce

300g frozen or fresh blackberries

50g caster sugar

Juice of ½ a lemon

Scraped vanilla pod (optional)

50ml Finders Bold Blackberry Gin liqueur

Method

1. Preheat an oven to 140℃. Grease and line a 20cm cake tin with baking paper.

2. To make the base, place the cookies and almonds into a food processor and blitz until it is a fine crumb. Pour in the melted butter and mix until it resembles wet sand. Pour it into the cake tin and push it evenly into the base and up the sides (about an inch tall). Use the bottom of a measuring cup to help.

3. For the filling, place the cream cheese into a mixing bowl and beat until completely smooth and soft. Add the mascarpone, sugar, lemon zest and vanilla seeds and beat gently until fully incorporated. Add the eggs one at a time, beating in between and scraping down the sides before adding the next. Mix until smooth.

4. Sift the flour over the top and fold through until fully combined.

5. Carefully, fold through the blackberries and pour the mix into the prepared cake tin.

6. Bake for approximately 1 hour and 10 minutes or until it is lightly golden and has a slight wobble to it. Turn the oven off and let it cool for an hour with the oven door slightly open. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.

7. To make the blackberry sauce, place half of the blackberries into a heavy based saucepan with the sugar, lemon juice and the scraped out vanilla bean. Place over high heat and bring to a boil. Cook for around 10 minutes or until it thickens to a jam consistency. Turn the heat down and add the remaining blackberries and the blackberry gin liqueur. Continue to cook for around 1 minute, stirring to combine. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool completely.

8. To serve, remove the cheesecake from the refrigerator ½ an hour before serving. Take it out of the tin, peel off the baking paper and place on a serving dish. Spoon the blackberry sauce over the top of the cheesecake or serve it on the side.

Note: You can mix the filling by hand in a mixing bowl using a spatula or you can use an electric stand mixer or hand-held mixer to help.