Monday, January 21, 2013

Milo Cheesecake with Chocolate Crackle Crust

Milo Cheesecake with Chocolate Crackle Crust
You guys, we need to talk about this cheesecake. It might not look like much, it's brown and kinda rough around the edges. But OH MY GOD it tastes amazing. It's like a party in your mouth. I'm pretty chuffed with myself for making this. It seemed like a pretty simple flavour combo; I wanted something with an Australian twist to it since Australia Day is coming up very soon, so I decided to make a Milo Cheesecake with chocolate crackles for the base.
Milo Cheesecake with Chocolate Crackle Crust
For those of you outside Australia, chocolate crackles might mean something different to you. I know they sometimes refer to those chocolate cookies that are dusted in icing sugar, but here chocolate crackles is the name of one of our favourite childhood treats. It's similar to rice krispies squares, except the marshmallow is replaced with chocolate and coconut and set into cupcake paper liners. Pretty much the best thing ever at the school bake sales. And here I've used it as the base of my cheesecake, and it works so well. The original chocolate crackles are made with Copha and cocoa powder, but I have issues with Copha with so I replaced it with real milk chocolate. It works just as well in this case since you are keeping the entire thing chilled.
Milo Cheesecake with Chocolate Crackle Crust
Now I know there are going to be people who don't know what Milo is, there always is. It's a chocolate malt powder that's mixed with milk (or sometimes mixed with water and condensed milk if you're Malaysian), and it's one of my favourite things in the whole world. Just search for milo on this blog if you don't believe me. If you can't get Milo wherever you are, Ovaltine will be an adequate substitute, or malted milk powder with some cocoa powder might work as well. But nothing beats the real deal. I mixed it into the cheesecake filling, as well as using it as a topping on the cheesecake in the shape of Australia! Husband gets props for suggesting the shape.
Milo Cheesecake with Chocolate Crackle Crust
Sydney just experienced it's hottest day on record, so when planning my baking for this weekend I was determined to keep the oven turned off. This cheesecake is entirely no-bake, you need to melt some chocolate for the base and then heat some milk for the chilled cheesecake filling. Pretty straightforward and worth the small amount of effort. I used my usual chilled cheesecake recipe, and added a sh*tload of Milo. I wanted to make sure it really packed a strong punch when it came to that malted chocolate flavour.
Milo Cheesecake with Chocolate Crackle Crust
Remember, I'm still in the middle of my new year's health kick at the moment so I had to force myself to only have the smallest taste of this cheesecake. It was TORTURE. I could pretty much eat the whole thing. You might be concerned about this being too rich or sweet but it's not too bad. The whipped cream in the gelatine keeps it pretty light. You might need some elbow grease to cut through the chocolate crackle base, just use a sharp serrated knife. Seriously, I encourage you to try this out for Australia day, everyone will love it!
Milo Cheesecake with Chocolate Crackle Crust
Australian Milo Cheesecake with a Chocolate Crackle Crust
(serves 8-10)
For the chocolate crackle base:
250g good quality milk chocolate, finely chopped
1/3 cup dessicated coconut
2 cups rice bubbles/rice krispies cereal

For the cheesecake filling:
300ml (about 1 1/4 cups) thickened (heavy) cream
340g (12oz) cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup (75g) sugar (I used caster/superfine)
200ml (about 3/4 cup) milk
1 1/2 cups Milo powder (can substitute with Ovaltine or malted milk powder + cocoa to taste)
4 tsp powdered gelatine
Optional: Extra Milo powder to decorate

Grease and line the base (with baking paper) of a 18cm or 20cm springform tin. Place chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl and place bowl over a small saucepan of simmering water and stir until melted. (Okay I am lazy and melted mine in the microwave) Stir in coconut, then stir in rice bubbles. Pour into prepared tin and flatten into the base of tin in an even layer, using a spatula or the back of a spoon. (Sneak in a spoonful of the mixture for yourself to taste, it's good for the soul.) Place in the fridge for at least half an hour or until the chocolate is set.
Milo Cheesecake with Chocolate Crackle Crust
Prepare the cheesecake filling; whip cream in a mixing bowl until it reaches soft peaks (take care not to overmix). Place cream cheese in a separate large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer on high until smooth. Add sugar and beat until combined. Place gelatin in a small separate bowl with 3 tbsp cold water to soften it. In a small saucepan, heat milk until it just comes to a boil, remove from heat then whisk in milo powder to dissolve. Add softened gelatin and whisk again to combine. Ensure there are no lumps. Add warm milk mixture to cream cheese and beat until smooth. Fold in whipped cream until smooth and then pour mixture over crumb layer. Chill for at least 3 hours or overnight. To serve, run a thin-bladed knife under hot water and then carefully run around the edge of the pan to loosen it. Carefully remove from pan and serve, or store in an airtight container in the fridge until ready to serve. 

If you wish to decorate the top like mine, trace a map of Australia out on a piece of baking paper and cut out. Press baking paper stencil over the top of the cheesecake and sprinkle milo on top. Brush off excess powder and then carefully lift up stencil.
Milo Cheesecake with Chocolate Crackle Crust
P.S. Thanks to Lisa at filtered media for sending me a Profiline PushPan several months ago to try out. It worked perfectly for this recipe!
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75 comments:

  1. I love what you have done to embrace Australia day - you can't do better than that. Love the sound of everything about it. And yes, chocolate crackle was my favourite when I was a kid, especially during bake stall days. It'd be the first thing I'd go for!! Awesome work with the australia cut out - looks fantastic!!

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  2. I'm so on a Milo kick after my trip to australia! Love this :)

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  3. oh my goodness you are a genius! aargh chocolate crackle base, why has this never been though of before?! it truly is the flavour of my childhood :')

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  4. So amazing and perfect for Australia Day! I have so many childhood memories of Milo.

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  5. Looks so good! Love this for Australia day!

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  6. number one: you remembered tasmania!
    number two: this is more australian than anything ever
    number three: i have foods for the australia day bbq i got invited to!
    steph this has made my day, thankyou!!! :)

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  7. The Australia print really makes the cheesecake - it looks stunning!

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  8. Glad i'm not the only one who doesn't love Copha! This sounds amazing. Now on the to do list. Son will be glad to have Milo back in the house - bloody teenager will scoff a tin of it in a couple of days if it's around on a regular basis ;)

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  9. Genius, seriously, people are gonna go nuts for this.

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  10. I'm def a nesquik girl but there's NO WAY I'd pass up on this baby :o NOM

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  11. That chocolate crackle base is genius, AUSSIE BLOODY GENIUS.

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  12. This is the coolest piece of Australia Day cooking I have ever seen, amazing!

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  13. CHOCOLATE CRACKLE BASE?!?! I may never use biscuits again :)

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  14. Absolutely amazing! Love your work. You are one of my favourite bloggers and I love the inspiration you provide x

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  15. This is wonderful and so Australian. I bet it taste amazing, who can resist chocolate crackles = yum, yum, yum! Chocolate crackle base swoon.

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  16. OMG. You are the Milo baking queen. This is genius!

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  17. Oh wow, I was trying to figure out how you got the map of Australia on the top. This is awesome!

    Confession time - I actually regularly put coco pops into my chocolate milkshakes because it makes it maltier and also crunchy at the bottom! :D

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  18. Love your Milo recipes, Steph! This looks incredible and I think the best part was realising that the base is chocolate crackles!!

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  19. Oh. My. Gosh. I think this looks FABULOUS! My little sister's birthday is on Australia Day, and I think this would be the perfect mix of childhood flashback and adult deliciousness for her!

    I think I might do a test run on the people at work, and serve it up in disposable cups. Ooooh, this is going to be great!!! I will let you know how I go :-)

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  20. Steph you've outdone yourself! Sometimes the simplest recipes are the best and this looks YUM. Surely you deserve a second slice? :-)

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  21. What a simply amazing wonderful idea. You are jenius

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  22. Stephanie! Oh my! There are just no words! I HAVE to make this for 'Oz-trail-ya' Day. Thank you!!!!!

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  23. This looks great! Love the use of the stencil so pretty. Lovely using rice crispies as a base. Yum!

    www.foodnerd4life.com

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  24. This is possibly the most Australian cheesecake. I'm now dying to make this to taste it myself.

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  25. I love Milo anytime of the day, any day of the week, any day of the year. It must be the Malaysian in me. This is so so so awesome I really have to make this sometime!

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  26. looks & sounds delicious :)

    we're having a pav on australia day, so this will just have to be for some other reason...

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  27. Brilliant! Oh how I love milo I can just imagine how delicious this must be. So very clever!

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  28. That looks amazing! I visited Australia 18 months ago, and of all the local delicacies that unfortunately we didn't have room for in our luggage, Milo is the thing I most regret not getting.

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  29. Gorgeously styled and ingeniously conceived! I'm dying to get you involved in a project for Spoonful magazine... I will ponder how to tempt you ;)

    thea.
    (www.spoonfulzine.com)

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  30. That is a seriously beautiful cheesecake. Anything chocolate and cheesecake sounds like heaven.

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  31. Gorgeous cake! (as always). This looks lovely!

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  32. I have no idea what Milo tastes like but this cheesecake looks *amazing* and I LOVE the Australia-shaped Milo topping, it looks brilliant! I assume you used some manner of stencil? :)

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  33. Excuse the silly question in the previous comment! I was so excited about this recipe that I managed to sprint-scroll past the photo of the stencil :)

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  34. Wow. This honestly looks AMAZING! you have done a FANTASTIC job! Well done! I am super excited to try it! xxx

    Just one question.. Is there anything you can use instead of the coconut?

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    1. You could just skip the coconut, but it won't be as tasty

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    2. Thanks a billion :)

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  35. Oooh Steph this is awesome! I haven't had unbaked cheesecake in ages, yum. Love the stencil!

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  36. Steph! You are truly AWESOME!!!!
    This looks incredible! I am DEFINITELY going to make this. I loved your milo/ganache cake that I made last year, but THIS one looks like it's in a league of it's own! I may save this one up for May, when I have a newborn baby (ie I will be starving!!!) and it's my birthday.....if I can wait that long to try it!!
    And The Australia Day and stencil in Milo is brilliant.
    xoxoxoxoxo

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  37. This looks great! I love the stencil on the top - especially how the Milo looks all gravelly and gritty rather than powdery - much more like the Aussie outback!

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  38. zomg milo! also, that is the cutest tray ever

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  39. I so love MIlo, and I'nm a die hard fan of cheesecake..this cake looks totally irresistable!

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  40. You can't get more Strayan than Milo imho! And your map is perfect!

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  41. Love this so much!!! Definitely going to try this out for Australia Day. I'll probably do it in tiny squares though, to encourage portion control. We have my SIL's wedding coming up in a couple of months and everyone in the family is trying not to indulge too much :)

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  42. Can it be made without gelatine? Hubby is vegetarian but this looks amazing...

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    1. You could try substituting with agar? I'm not sure what the conversion is though...

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  43. This is amazing - chocolate crackles FTW! And Milo and Australia, of course =)

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  44. Yumm! I love Milo and altho I haven't even heard of crackles I'm salivating for this already! I wanna marry this cheesecake!

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  45. Such a clever idea and looks absolutely delicious! I almost want to lick my screen ;)

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  46. This is an adorable idea! I'll try and make this for our work's Australia Day morning tea on Friday.

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  47. This is AMAZING! I am definitely going to try this. Thanks for sharing :)

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  48. Love that stenciling. So perfect for Australia Day!

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  49. Move over the pavlova, cheese cake has arrived! I love this idea. I was think a take on another Australian classic could be the honey joy cheese cake base? Do you think it would work? have a lovely Australia day fellow aussie

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  50. this looks amazing! yum! cant wait to try it out!

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  51. This was amazing... I made it yesterday as one of my creative endevours and it went in 2 minuets at the BBQ. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

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  52. Made this for our Australia Day BBQ. Not as sweet as I expected. Thanks for sharing recipe, it was a great success.

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  53. I made this as little individual mini serves! So easy to do and super tasty! Thanks

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  54. I love everything about this post, the fact that it has a chocolate crackle base, it is a milo cheesecake (YUM) and the gorgeous photo styling! Well done everything is so beautiful... now I just wish I could taste it too :(

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  55. I made this for Australia Day and it was brilliant!! It wasn't as sweet as I was expecting as someone else pointed out but when you had a bite of both the base and cheesecake bit at the same time, it was like heaven in my mouth!
    Thank you for sharing!! It will now be a family staple.

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  56. I made this and it is amazing!!
    One of the best cheesecakes I have ever tasted!
    Love your blog!

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  57. Im definitely going to try this recipe for my husband and son who love cheesecakes. Thanks!

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  58. Wow, love everything about this cheesecake! I had my eyes on it for a while, and ever since I've been looking at it everyday until I finally collected all the ingredients to make this cake!

    I have just one problem, though. The cheesecake didn't set yet. I completed it at 10PM last night, and it's 6AM now, almost 8 hours. I thought it would have definitely been set by now, I must have done something wrong. How I wish it would come out as beautiful as yours!

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    Replies
    1. It should definitely have set by then! Did you use the right amount of gelatine? The only other thing I can think if you used the right amount of gelatine, is that you might have used too much milk?

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  59. This looks fab! I have not had a chocolate crackle in years, and now I'm craving it! No bake cheesecakes are definitely something I've missed living abroad in Singapore, no point making a big cheesecake when it's just me and Hubby lol. But my parents are coming for a visit in 11 days, mum's obsessed with Milo, and now you've given me crackle cravings that my pregnancy demands to be satisfied, so I think I'm gonna whip it up! Maybe decorate with Milo and sprinkles as a tribute to the Milo Dinosaur drink lol.

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  60. Hi, nice to meet you!
    I love your blog, I live in New Zealand and when I saw the tim tam cake, thought, maybe is from here...and we are neighbours!
    Sweets kisses!

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  61. OMG......that looks amazing, and coming from a chocolate lover, it's something I want to try making.

    Thanks for the recipe.

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  62. I made this super easy recipe last night and it turned out great!! I don't eat gelatine so couldn't try it myself but it sure did look good!! I made it of a milo-holic

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  63. I think this looks beautiful! Cheesecake is one of my favourites and there's so many to try but this will have to be next on my list. I featured it in my Australia Day post with link back to you! http://healthyindesign.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/australia-day-party-ideas.html

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  64. Could this be freezed? There is only 3 of us in the family and we're going away for the weekend, but I so want to try out this recipe asap (it looks super delicious!!!)! I'm not sure that if I make this it'll last till then but, just in case, is there a way to store it?
    Thanks,
    Michela

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    1. Hi Michela, you can certainly try freezing it but I haven't tested it myself so I can't say if the texture of the filling and crust will be as good once it has been frozen and then defrosted!

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  65. This looks amazing! I'm vegetarian though, what could I substitute or do instead of using gelatin?

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  66. Help! My daughter has added 1 1/2 cups of milk instead of 3/4, so now its quite runny. what do we do now??? She has made it before and it was perfect as well as incredibly delicious!

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    1. Ahh sorry I didn't see this earlier, the best thing to do would be to add a bit more gelatine so that it sets. Hope you managed to salvage it!

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    2. we added more cream cheese. will see how it turns out in the afternoon. It's for easter dessert!!

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