Mascarpone Cheesecake

For Crust:

1 cup Walnuts and 1 cup Date.

Place the walnuts and date in a Vitamix and process until finely ground. Transfer to a 9-inch spring form pan and press them into a compact, even layer over the bottom. Freeze the crust while you make the filling.

Cheesecake:

Make the cheesecake

filling and freeze

8 ounces mascarpone cheese, at room temperature, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 2 cups heavy cream, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.

Method: In a large bowl beat mascarpone and sugar. Beat until smooth. Add vanilla extract and heavy cream and beat to stiff peaks. Leave some of cream into a bowl and rest shot over the cold crust and spread it in an even layer. Cover the pan and freeze for 1 hour or up to overnight. Add 2 tbsp. of Nutella into bowl then whip to stiff peaks than transfer to a piping bag using a star nozzle after an hour pipe over cold crust and freeze overnight.

To serve:

remove the cake from the spring form ring (if needed, run a thin knife or offset spatula around the edges to loosen). Run a large off-set spatula (or thin knife) under the crust to loosen it from the base, and t

ransfer the cake to a platter or cake stand. If the cake was in the freezer overnight, let it sit at room temperature for 10-15 minutes to soften slightly. Cut the cake into wedges and serve.

Notes: The cake can be covered tightly and frozen for up to 1 week.

Tips:

Be sure to use mascarpone cheese in this cake, not cream cheese, which won’t give you the same texture.

Take the mascarpone out of the fridge at least an hour in advance to come to room temperature. If you forget, you

can microwave the mascarpone in 10-second intervals, stirring between each, until softened.

you can top up using cherry jam instead. The jam should be warmed just until it’s liquidly so it spreads easily, but not piping hot let it cool if needed.