nutella cheesecake

you probably stayed when you read the title, didn't you?

I wasn't intending to make a cheesecake but a Nutella cake, but being usually lazy I couldn't be bothered to go out to look for ground hazelnuts (although I could've easily done it using the blender...), so I made Nutella cheesecake instead. This cake satisfied my random cheesecake craving as well. Since I can kill two birds with one stone (or maybe one hazelnut here), why not?

Pardon me for the really odd looking slice of cake. I haven't gotten around to investing in a springform pan, so I had to make do with a normal cake tin. I had a lot of trouble trying to get the cake out and I just sliced it directly from the tin instead. The cling film I covered the tin with wasn't very helpful either. (Note to self: Get a springform pan ASAP)

I'm hoping the other slices left in the tin will be successfully let out by then.

The cake is really easy, it uses 6 ingredients - you can definitely remove the chopped hazelnuts.
If you don't have an oven - it's no bake!
If you don't have a cake tin - you could probably use a normal take-away plastic container and eat directly from it and IT'S PORTABLE! I'm a genius. I will try it out in the future (you can try it now and let me know).

(i've been having a lot of fun GIF-ing stuff lately)

Recipe:

(Adapted from Nigella)

250g digestive biscuits

75g unsalted butter (melted)

375g nutella 

100g chopped hazelnuts

500g cream cheese (room temperature)

60g icing sugar (sifted)

1. Put your digestive biscuits in a sandwich/ziplock/freezer bag, and crush the biscuits with a rolling pin/your hands until crumbs. Add your melted butter in and incorporate it well. The mixture should resemble wet sand (it should form together when you press it down). 

2. Pour your biscuits into a 8"/9" springform pan and press the biscuits down into the base. Place the pan into the fridge to chill.

3. Beat the cream cheese & icing sugar together, then add all the nutella. Mix until everything is well combined. Pour the batter into the tin. Top the cake off with your chopped hazelnuts. 

4. Place in the fridge/freezer for 4 hours or overnight (if you can wait that long). 

Note: 

- In Nigella's recipe, she added some nutella and hazelnuts into her biscuit base but I didn't because I didn't want the entire cake to be filled with nutella/hazelnuts. You can definitely go ahead and follow hers. 

- You can definitely make your life easier with the biscuit base by using a food processor if you have one. Same methods, just blitz your biscuits and butter (doesn't have to be melted) together. 

- My cream cheese + nutella mixture looked a little curdled by the time I finished combining, but it should be fine. Still tasted great in the end! 

I'm one paper away from ending this entire semester altogether! So happy and excited and I'm literally going to be at home all day, everyday before I leave for Taiwan end March. Hopefully I'll be posting some savoury recipes here soon.