This white chocolate and honeycomb cheesecake is really special. It's no bake, and made with oodles of white chocolate and homemade honeycomb running right through the filling.
The result is a dessert that's sweet and creamy with each bite dissolving in the mouth to reveal little pieces of honeycomb.
In places, the honeycomb will have dissolved, revealing little pools of caramel-like sauce as your fork cuts into the cake. Gorgeous.
To make this amazing no bake cheesecake recipe, you'll start by making the base. This is as simple as combing melted butter and crushed digestive biscuits and then pressing into the base of a tin.
You'll then make the honeycomb, which might be a new skill for you but I promise it's actually very straightforward.
You'll heat sugar, water and golden syrup in a pan until it turns a caramel shade, then whisk in bicarbonate of soda, causing it to bubble up rather pleasingly.
You'll then carefully pour the mixture into a lined tray and it will set in no time to give a beautiful, crunchy honeycomb. For the filling, you'll whisk cream, sugar and vanilla together, then fold in cream cheese and white chocolate, followed by some of your freshly made honeycomb. You'll then pile the filling into the tin and chill overnight, ready to decorate and slice the next day!
Here's the full recipe for my white chocolate and honeycomb cheesecake, complete with lots of step by step photos so you can see what to do at every stage.
Ingredients
For the honeycomb
- 200 g (1 cup + 2 tbsp) white caster sugar (superfine sugar)
- 75 g (4 tbsp) golden syrup
- 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
For the biscuits base
- 100 g (7 tbsp) salted butter
- 250 g (18 sheets) digestive biscuits (graham crackers) crushed
For the white chocolate and honeycomb filling
- 900 g (4 x 8oz blocks) full fat cream cheese
- 200 g (1½ cups) icing sugar (powdered sugar)
- 450 ml (1¾ cups + 2 tbsp) double cream (heavy cream)
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 250 g (9 oz) white chocolate
- 50 g (2 oz) honeycomb in small pieces
To decorate
- 50 g (2 oz) white chocolate in small pieces
- 50 g (2 oz) honeycomb in small pieces
Instructions
Make the cheesecake base
Crush the biscuits (either with the end of a rolling pin or by pulsing briefly in a food processor).
Melt the butter and add to the bowl.
Mix together.
Tip the still-warm biscuit mixture into your 23cm (9 inch) springform tin and press down all over to form the base.
Put it in the refrigerator to firm up while you make the rest of the recipe.
Make the honeycomb
Line the base and sides of a 20x20cm (8 inch) tin with baking paper.
Put the sugar and golden syrup in a large saucepan with 100ml water. Try to use a metal pan rather than a white or dark one as you need to be able to see what colour the mixture is as it cooks. It’s important to use a large pan as the mixture will puff up a huge amount once the bicarb is added later.
Place the pan over a low heat and gently melt the sugar. You should stir during this process, but you can gently move the sugar around with the handle end of a wooden spoon to encourage it.
When all the sugar has dissolved, the mixture should be transparent and you shouldn’t be able to feel any grains with the end of your wooden spoon. If you can see any grains of sugar around the sides of the pan, sweep them away with a damp pastry brush. If they’re left in the pan, they can cause the whole mixture to crystalise and you’ll have to start again.
Now, turn the heat up enough to bring the mixture to a boil, then hold at a simmer. You’re looking for a medium-light caramel colour. If you have a sugar thermometer, aim for 150C/300F. If it goes dark, it will taste bitter.
Add the bicarbonate of soda in one go and whisk briefly (about 10 seconds) - just enough to distribute the powder.
Immediately pour the mixture into your prepared tin and leave to set. Don’t stir it or move the tin around as this can cause the honeycomb to deflate. Also, you should never walk around the kitchen with hot caramel or oil as it's simply too dangerous!
Leave to set for 30 minutes, then lift from the tin, remove the paper and break into pieces.
Make the white chocolate and honeycomb filling
Melt the white chocolate and set aside to cool.
Put the double cream and icing sugar in a large bowl.
Beat with an electric whisk until really thick and stiff.
Add the cream cheese.
Fold only as much as it takes to combine. Overworking cream cheese can make it collapse and turn much more liquid.
Add the cooled white chocolate.
Fold together briefly.
Scatter a couple of handfuls of small honeycomb pieces into the bowl (about 50g / 1.75 oz).
Fold through, then spoon the filling into the round tin, on top of the biscuit base and smooth over the surface.
Refrigerate overnight or until set.
Decorate
When you’re ready to serve, unmould the cheesecake by placing the cheesecake on a tin or upturned bowl and unclipping the tin so that the sides fall away.
Slide the cheesecake onto a serving plate or board.
Decorate the top with more pieces of honeycomb and white chocolate before serving.
To get really neat slices, cut with a sharp knife and wipe the blade between slices.
Indulgent? Yes. Worth it? Yes. What do you think of my white chocolate and honeycomb cheesecake?
Print this white chocolate and honeycomb cheesecake
White Chocolate and Honeycomb Cheesecake Recipe
Ingredients
For the honeycomb
- 200 g (1 cup + 2 tbsp) white caster sugar (superfine sugar)
- 75 g (4 tbsp) golden syrup
- 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
For the biscuits base
- 100 g (7 tbsp) salted butter
- 250 g (18 sheets) digestive biscuits (graham crackers) crushed
For the white chocolate and honeycomb filling
- 900 g (4 x 8oz blocks) full fat cream cheese
- 200 g (1½ cups) icing sugar (powdered sugar)
- 450 ml (1¾ cups + 2 tbsp) double cream (heavy cream)
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 250 g (9 oz) white chocolate
- 50 g (2 oz) honeycomb in small pieces
To decorate
- 50 g (2 oz) white chocolate in small pieces
- 50 g (2 oz) honeycomb in small pieces
Instructions
Make the cheesecake base
- Crush the biscuits (either with the end of a rolling pin orby pulsing briefly in a food processor).
- Melt the butter then add to the bowl and mix together.
- Tip the still-warm biscuit mixture into your 23cm (9 inch) springform tin and press down all over to form the base.
- Put it in the refrigerator to firm up while you make the rest of the recipe.
Make the honeycomb
- Line the base and sides of a 20x20cm (8 inch) tin with baking paper.
- Put the sugar and golden syrup in a large saucepan with 100ml water. Try to use a metal pan rather than a white or dark one as you need to be able to see what colour the mixture is as it cooks. It’s important to use a large pan as the mixture will puff up a huge amount once the bicarb is added later.
- Place the pan over a low heat and gently melt the sugar. You should stir during this process, but you can gently move the sugar around with the handle end of a wooden spoon to encourage it. When all the sugar has dissolved, the mixture should be transparent and you shouldn’t be able to feel any grains with the end of your wooden spoon. If you can see any grains of sugar around the sides of the pan, sweep them away with a damp pastry brush. If they’re left in the pan, they can cause the whole mixture to crystalise and you’ll have to start again.
- Now, turn the heat up enough to bring the mixture to a boil, then hold at a simmer. You’re looking for a medium-light caramel colour. If you have a sugar thermometer, aim for 150C/300F. If it goes dark, it will taste bitter.
- Add the bicarbonate of soda in one go and whisk briefly (about 10 seconds) - just enough to distribute the powder.
- Immediately pour the mixture into your prepared tin and leave to set. Don’t stir it or move the tin around as this can cause the honeycomb to deflate. Also, you should never walk around the kitchen with hot caramel or oil as it's simply too dangerous!
- Leave to set for 30 minutes, then lift from the tin, remove the paper and break into pieces.
Make the white chocolate and honeycomb filling
- Melt the white chocolate and set aside to cool.
- Put the double cream and icing sugar in a large bowl. Beat with an electric whisk until really thick and stiff.
- Add the cream cheese and fold only as much as it takes to combine. Overworking cream cheese can make it collapse and turn much more liquid.
- Add the cooled white chocolate and fold together briefly.
- Scatter a couple of handfuls of small honeycomb pieces into the bowl (about 50g / 1.75 oz).
- Fold through, then spoon the filling into the round tin, on top of the biscuit base and smooth over the surface.
- Refrigerate overnight or until set.
Decorate
- When you’re ready to serve, unmould the cheesecake by placing the cheesecake on a tin or upturned bowl and unclipping the tin so that the sides fall away.
- Slide the cheesecake onto a serving plate or board.
- Decorate the top with more pieces of honeycomb and white chocolate before serving.
- To get really neat slices, cut with a sharp knife and wipe the blade between slices.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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Andy Molloy says
Made this for friends and they loved it, however making the honeycomb to the recipe was a disaster until I did not add water. Checked other recipes for honeycomb and none add water.
Emily Leary says
Hi. I'm glad you managed to make it work from you, but I have to disagree about adding water! I learned how to make honeycomb while training with Leiths School of Food and Wine, and they use water in their recipe, as does Poppy Cooks, Pioneer Woman and more.
Adding water has the benefit of making it easier to dissolve the sugar in the initial stages and so you're less likely to burn it. On the flip side, though, it takes longer to reach medium caramel colour (around 150C), so leaving out the water can be quicker. But ultimately, as the caramel heats over 100C, you're losing the water as steam anyway, so once you get to medium caramel / 150C, your syrup will be the same whether you added water or not, and the results will be the same. I hope that helps!
Mammasaurus says
OH MY YUMMY LORD! And just as aI am about to embark on a fruit and veg diet too !
Donald @ Tea Time says
White Cheesecake Chocalate Bomb - this is proper title for this post.