White Chocolate Cheesecake With A Tim Tam Crust

Ingredients
For the Tim Tam Crust-
12 Tim Tam Biscuits
50gms Butter
For the cheesecake
500gms white chocolate broken into pieces
100mls pure cream
800gms soft cream cheese
200gms caster sugar
teaspoon salt
6 Eggs
teaspoon vanilla extract
For the ganache
100mls pure cream
20gms Butter
1 Tablespoon butter
100gms milk chocolate broken into pieces
Extra white chocolate for chocolate curls garnish.
Method
To make the Tim Tam biscuit crumb base brush the inside of a 20cm springform cake tin with 1 tablespoon of butter,in a food processor fitted with a metal blade chop the Tim Tams in 2 batches,Pulse each batch until you have fine crumbs ,this takes about 10-15 seconds,transfer the crumbs to a bowl and add 50 gms melted butter,mix by hand until the crumbs bind together then press the mixture into the sides and bottom of the pre greased cake tin,place the tin in the freezer for 20 minutes.
To make the cheesecake-
Heat 1 inch of water in the bottom half of a double boiler over medium heat ,place the white chocolate and half cup of the cream in the top half of the boiler,tightly cover the top with cling wrap and heat for 10 to 12 minutes ,remove from the heat,stir until smooth and set aside,be careful not to overheat the mixture as it will split and spoil the dish,it’s better to have the heat a bit low and take longer than too high.
Place the softened cream cheese ,sugar and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a mixing paddle,beat on low,medium and high for one minute at a time ,scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat one more minute on high,scrape down the bowl again and add the eggs 2 at a time beating on medium for 10 seconds after each addition add the vanilla and the melted chocolate mixture,beat on medium for a further 20 seconds then remove the bowl from the mixture and using a spatula finish mixing the batter until it is smooth and thoroughly combined then pour the mix into the prepared cake tin spreading evenly.
Pour 1 Litre of hot water into a baking dish and place it on the bottom rack of an oven that has been preheated to 170 celsius (The bottom rack should be at least 3 inches below the centre rack) place the cake tin on the centre rack and bake 15 minutes then lower the temperature to 130 celsius and bake a further 15 minutes,lower the temperature again ,this time to 110 celsius and bake a further 15 minutes,lower the temperature to 100 celsius and bake a further two hour,turn off the oven but leave the cheesecake in and allow it to remain undisturbed for a further 2 hours,remove and cool at room temperature for 1 hour and then refrigerate 12 hours.(Don’t remove from the tin).
After the cheesecake has been in the fridge 12 hours prepare the ganache topping by heating 100mls cream,20gms butter and 1 tablespoon sugar in a saucepan over medium heat ,bring to the boil,place the plain chocolate in a bowl and pour the boiling cream mixture over the chocolate and stand for 5 minutes,stir until smooth and gently pour over the chilled cake,using a spatula spread the mixture evenly and smoothly over the cake being careful not to let it drip over the edges and then refrigerate a further 30 minutes to set the ganache.
You can now remove the cake from the tin by wrapping a damp,warm tea towel around the sides of the tin and gently release the spring clip,use a serrated knife to trim the crust level with the ganache and decorate with chocolate curls,serve with raspberry or passionfruit coulis.