This Battenberg Cheesecake has a buttery biscuit and ground almond base, an almond cheesecake and is topped with mini-Battenbergs and balls of marzipan.
My Battenberg Cupcakes are such a popular recipe on my blog, you guys just seem to absolutely love them as much as I do. Why wouldn’t you? Almond colourful sponge, swirl buttercream and hidden marzipan. So, I thought I would turn the classic Battenberg into a cheesecake.
Jump to Recipe
Round Tin
So as with all my cheesecake recipes I use an 8” spring form tin. 8” refers to the diameter of the tin rather than the depth. I use this Masterclass Spring Form Tin. It is my absolute favourite; I find that it is the perfect depth as well for a cheesecake.
I don’t bother to line the base or sides of my tin when I am making a cheesecake. I just find it a bit of a faff having to peel the baking parchment off the sides of the cheesecake. And I also find it just makes the sides a little bit messy.
Biscuit Base
This cheesecake has a biscuit and ground almond base. The almonds are completely optional, but I thought they would work perfectly in this recipe.
The biscuits need to be blitzed or crushed to a fine crumb. I do this in a food processor, but you could also put the biscuits into a food-safe bag and crush them with a rolling pin.
Any biscuits work perfectly for the base, I prefer a plain digestive, but it is completely up to you. Just remember though if you are using a chocolate-coated biscuit or a biscuit with a filling you will need to reduce the amount of butter in the recipe.
I also used ground almonds in the base, but you could use flaked almonds as I did in my Cherry Bakewell Cheesecake.
Cheesecake
For the cheesecake, you can use any kind of soft cheese you want but it MUST be full fat. You can’t use a low-fat or fat-free soft cheese because the cheesecake won’t set.
You can use either a branded soft cheese, for example, Philidelphia or a supermarket’s own brand. I have made cheesecakes with both Philidelphia and Tesco, Asda and Lidl’s own brand and budget brand of soft cheese and all of them work perfectly.
I decided to go with a marbled effect for the cheesecake like my Mint Aero Cheesecake and my Mini Egg Cheesecake. A traditional Battenberg has two yellow and two pink squares so I thought I would do a pink and yellow marble effect.
Related Recipes
Cherry Bakewell Millionaire Shortbread
To do the marble effect is super easy. Once you have mixed your cheesecake mixture to soft peaks split it between two bowls. To one bowl add yellow food colouring a little at a time, and stir in between each addition that way you can have some control over the final colour. Add the food colouring a little more at a time until you reach the desired colour. To the other bowl add the pink food colouring.
If you add too much food colouring to begin with then you are stuck with that colour. There isn’t anything we can do to reduce the colour if you add too much food colouring. If you add the food colouring a little at a time you have a lot more control over the final colour.
You could pipe the colours into the tin on top of your base, but I just used a spoon. I started by randomly adding blobs of the pink food colouring to the base, then adding yellow and gradually building it up.
When you come to smoothing the top of the cheesecake the colours will slightly blend together but don’t worry about this.
Setting the Cheesecake
So this cheesecake is a no-bake recipe and that just means that it doesn’t need to be baked in an oven. Instead, you need to put it into the fridge to set.
I always recommend setting the cheesecake in the fridge overnight, the longer the cheesecake is in the fridge the more set it will be.
Topping
I decided to go with my usual double cream topping I whipped it until it formed stiff peaks and piped it onto the top of the cheesecake.
For the decoration, I decided on some Mini Battenberg slices and marzipan balls. I used shop-bought marzipan as it was just so much easier but if you prefer to you can make your own.
Alternative
You could create a marzipan layer in between the biscuit and cheesecake layer. All you would need to do is roll out your marzipan to fit in your tin. Once you have pressed your biscuit base into the tin, lift the marzipan and lay it on top, then add your cheesecake on top.
The almonds in the base are completely optional.
Equipment
*I earn a small amount of money if you buy any of these products. You will not be charged anything extra for this. Thank you for supporting A Spoonful of Vanilla.
Pin it For Later!
If you do have any questions about this Battenberg Cheesecake or any other recipes on my blog you can contact me either by sending me a DM on social media or an email. You can find all my details on the left-hand side of this page.
Battenberg Cheesecake
Ingredients
For the Biscuit Base
- 300 g Digestives
- 50 g Ground Almonds
- 125 g Unsalted Butter or Stork
For the Cheesecake
- 800 g Full-Fat Soft Cheese
- 300 ml Double Cream
- 2 tsp Almond Extract
- Yellow Food Colouring
- Pink Food Colouring
For the Decoration
- 300 ml Double Cream
- Mini Battenbergs
- 100 g Marzipan
Instructions
To Make the Biscuit Base
- Add your biscuits and ground almonds to a food processor and blitz until the biscuits are crumbs and the ground almonds are evenly distributed.
- Add the butter and pulse for 20-30 seconds until the butter is incorporated and the biscuits now resemble wet sand.
- Pour the mixture into your cake tin and press down with the back of a spoon, until the entire base is covered by the biscuit and it is nice and level.
- Leave to one side.
To Make the Cheesecake
- In a bowl whisk the soft cheese, until it is nice and thick.
- Add in the double cream and almond extract and whisk again until the mixture becomes thick and creates soft peaks.
- Split the mixture between two bowls. To one of the bowls add the pink food colouring and to the other add the yellow food colouring. Add the food colouring a little at a time, mixing in between each addition until you reach the desired colour.
- Add alternate colours to the biscuit base. I started with pink and added 3/4 blobs on the top of the biscuit base, then add the yellow and build it up alternating between each colour until you have used all the cheesecake mixture.
- Smooth the top of the cheesecake using a palette knife or cake smoother. The colours should start to merge together but not mix.
- Put the cheesecake into the fridge overnight or for a minimum of 4 hours.
To Decorate
- Once the cheesecake has set remove it from the tin and place it onto your serving plate.
- If the sides of the cheesecake are looking a little splodgy, smooth them out using a knife of cake smoother. The colours should merge but not mix.
- In a bowl whisk the double cream until thick and it forms soft peaks.
- Pipe the double cream onto the top of the cheesecake.
- Cut the Mini Battenbergs into three pieces and add them to the top of the cheesecake.
- Roll the marzipan into equal-sized balls and add to the top of the cheesecake.
Notes
- This Battenberg Cheesecake will last in the fridge for up to 3 days.
