Yummy Delight

What do you do with a block of cream cheese, a cup of plain yogurt and a bottle of Ribena in your fridge?


With some digestive biscuits, butter, sugar and gelatin powder, you can turn these ingredients into a no-bake Ribena Marble Cheesecake :)

I happened to pick up a free Ribena recipe booklet at the supermarket many months ago. I was really amazed by the list of yummy treats that can be made with Ribena. All along I have only enjoyed it as a cold refreshing drink and the furtherest I did was to make them into ice lollies. You can actually use this blackcurrant cordial to make smoothies, slurpees, puddings, and even a purple version of the bandung drink! I've also been keeping a Ribena recipe card which came with a local magazine. Besides this marble cheesecake recipe, you can also make pancakes with Ribena apple sauce and layered Ribena with chocolate mousse.


It's not the first time I have made a no-bake cheesecake, but it is definitely my first attempt at making a marble cake or any sort. I followed the instruction and used a knife to swirl over the 'dual-tone' blobs of cheese mixture. It made me really happy to discover that it is actually very simple to make the swirls. I never knew that I would be able to create such a lovely marbling effect. I was so glad with the result that I decided to skip the mirror-layer which is meant to top off the cake.


I would consider this a rather light cheesecake since plain yogurt is used in place of thickened cream which is usually called for in a chilled cake. I could taste the Ribena flavour although its presence is not really strong. I guess the whole cake will taste more 'Ribenay' if I were to made the mirror-layer. Nevertheless, the cheesecake tasted very good. I cut a slice for my elder boy and another to take the above picture. He was eyeing at the slice when I was still not done with my 'photo-shoot'. There is no surprise that, what was supposed to be my share landed in his stomach as well.


Ribena Marble Cheesecake

Ingredients

crust:
150g digestive biscuits, finely crushed
60g butter, melted

filling:
100ml water
20g (2 tablespoons) gelatin granules/powder
250g cream cheese, soften at room temperature
75g caster sugar
250ml (1 cup) natural plain yogurt
75ml Ribena blackcurrant juice cordial

topping: (I omitted this)
100ml water
2 teaspoons gelatin granules/powder
80ml Ribena blackcurrant juice cordial


Method:

1. Line the sides of a 18-20cm round pan (with a removable base) with parchment paper or clear plastic sheet (I cut out a strip of plastic sheet from a cookie bag), set aside. To make the crust, combine crushed digestive biscuits and melted butter together in a mixing bowl. With the back of a spoon, press the biscuit crumbs onto the base of the prepared pan. Chill in the freezer compartment for at least 1 hour. (To ensure the crust is even, I used the base of a flat-bottom glass to press down the crumbs.)
2. Filling: Measure water into a bowl and sprinkle in the gelatin (without stirring with a spoon). Set aside to allow the gelatin grains to swell (10 mins) before setting the bowl over a pot of simmering hot water. Stir with a spoon and once the gelatin melts, remove the bowl from the pot and set aside to cool to room temperature.
3. With an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar together until smooth. Add in the gelatin solution and yogurt, beat till the mixture turns smooth.
4. Divide mixture evenly into two bowls (about 1 cup each). Add 75ml of Ribena into one of the bowls and mix well with a spatula.
5. Spoon the two mixtures in alternate blobs into the chilled crust. Level top and swirl with a knife through the mixture to create a marble effect. Refrigerate until set (about 2 hours as stated in the recipe, but I left mine to set over night since I omitted the topping).
6. Topping: Measure water into a bowl and sprinkle in the gelatin. Set aside to allow the gelatin grains to swell (10 mins) before setting the bowl over a pot of simmering hot water. Stir with a spoon and once the gelatin melts, remove bowl from the pot and stir in 80ml of Ribena. Set aside to cool. When completely cooled, pour mixture over the cheesecake and chill for several hours or overnight until set.