How to make GBBO Liam's Mince pie cheesecake

Breakout star creates an exclusive Christmas dish

He is arguably the unofficial winner of this year’s The Great British Bake Off, since charming an army of fans during his time in the popular baking show.

And Hackney-born Liam Charles has been keeping himself busy since appearing on our screens. One of his projects is with Sony. Liam is working with the tech giant to show how easy it is to make technology the centre of the kitchen.

In this video, watch Liam create a Mince pie cheesecake using Sony’s Smart speakerLF- S50G as his sous chef – he follows his own recipe using the talking speaker.

“Mince pies and gravy are probably the best parts of Christmas for me, for the sake of a sweet bake, we’re not going to include gravy but we are going to take the inspiration of a mince pie and knock it into a cheesecake recipe,” he said.


 GBBO 2017's Liam Charles 
 (Sony)

How to make Liam’s Cheesecake Mince Pie

Serves 12

Chocolate x Orange x Cranberry Shortbread Base

• 340 g Unsalted butter
• 165 g golden caster sugar
• 340 g Plain Flour
• 165 g Corn Flour
• Zest of Three oranges
• 2 tsp Mixed spice
• 1 tbsp of Vanilla Bean Paste
• 200 g Dark Chocolate
• 200 g Dried Cranberries

Mince pie Cream cheese filling

• 900 g Full fat cream cheese
• 200 g Caster sugar
• 200 ml Soured cream
• 3 tbsp plain flour
• 3 Free range eggs plus 1 yolk lightly beaten
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 450 g Homemade/ Shop bought mince meat

Chocolate Bark

• 300 g Dark Chocolate
• 200 g Dried Cranberries
• Zest of 2 oranges
• Baileys Spiked Whipped Cream
• 300 ml Double Cream
• 2 tbsp Caster sugar
• 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• Baileys to Taste

Method

For the Shortbread base

1. Cream your butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

2. Next you want to add your dry ingredients, followed by the zest of oranges 2 tsp of mixed spice and your vanilla bean paste.

3. Mix until the dough is just about coming together, and just then chuck in your chopped dark chocolate and dried cranberries.

4. Place dough on a lightly floured surface and knead gently. (DO NOT GO CRAZY) Wrap in cling film and place in fridge. For your dough to be easier to handle, cut it in half the place it in the fridge for 20 minutes. Place two baking trays into an oven and preheat to Gas Mark 4 / 180C.

Cheesecake

5. So, in the meantime, you want to crack on with your cheesecake mixture. Cream your cream cheese and caster sugar until smooth.

6. In a large bowl, add your soured cream and plain flour. Then add one egg at a time, beat into your cheesecake mixture until all eggs are well combined. Finally add your Vanilla bean paste.

7. This is where it gets exciting! Shop-bought or Homemade it doesn’t matter! Add the mincemeat filling to the cheesecake mixture. One that’s done, wrap the top of the bowl in Clingfilm and place in the fridge until ready to use.

Roll x Cut x Bake

8. Take the biscuit dough out of the fridge and on lightly floured surface begin to roll out to thickness of a £1 coin, cut out 12 8cm circles and place one in each cylinder mould. Place a cylinder tray on one baking tray and bake for 15 minutes, until its light golden brown.

9. Set both trays aside to cool on a cooling rack, then drop your oven temperature to Gas mark 2/160C.

“Fill em up”

10. Evenly divide your cheesecake mixture between all 12 inserts and bake 20-30 minutes, you’re looking for a set cheesecake with a cheeky little wobble in the middle.

11. Once baked switch of the oven and leave the door slightly ajar for the cheesecake to cool 30 minutes. Leave all cheesecakes on the side to completely cool.

12. Once cool place all cheesecakes in the fridge and chill for at least 1 hour ideally overnight.

Decorate

13. While the cheesecakes chilling, it’s time for DECOR! Melt the 300g of chocolate over a Bain Marie or a microwave but always mix in 20 second intervals, once melted pour the chocolate into a greaseproof lined baking tray.

14. Roughly chop dried cranberries, with 2 more oranges, grate of orange zest over the top and place into the fridge and leave to set, once set break the chocolate slab into funky shapes pointy shapes.

15. For the spiked whipped cream whip the double cream, caster and vanilla into a separate bowl until it’s just whipped - soft peaks.

16. Now, the amount of Baileys you use should really be determined on the day. Monday, 1tbsp. Friday to Sunday, well it’s entirely up to you.

17. Continue to whip until medium peaks are formed.

18. Place the nozzle into the piping bag, followed by the double cream, ready to pipe.

19. To serve, gently pop out each cheesecake and place onto plate or display board.

20. Now it’s up to you on how you want to decorate. But I’ll say you want to pipe three kisses onto the surface of the cheesecake, all varieties of sizes.

21. Place one of your shards on top of the cheesecake, sprinkle some icing sugar.