Method – Bases

Melt the cocoa butter in the microwave until liquid and then add the chocolate, stir together and then put the bowl back into the microwave on 10 second bursts for as long as it takes for the chocolate to melt completely.

Mix well with the rest of the ingredients and place the mix between two sheets of paper. Roll to roughly 5mm thick and cut out circles with a round cutter that is the same size as the diameter of your silicone stone moulds.

Place the tray into the fridge to set (they will be too soft to remove from the trimmings until they have hardened).

Method – Cheesecake Mix

Put the cream cheese, vanilla seeds and yoghurt into your KitchenAid bowl and beat together with the paddle attachment until smooth and set aside in another bowl, washing the KitchenAid bowl for reuse.

Soak the gelatine in ice cold water, making sure to separate the sheets before putting them into the water.

Lay out three silicone stone mould mats onto a flat tray and have a piping bag ready.

Place the sugar into a small pan with just enough water to form a paste and place on a gentle heat (the less water you use the quicker the heating process, but ensure the sugar has enough water to create a paste so it doesn’t colour from direct heat). Continue to heat until the mixture reaches 121c on a kitchen thermometer.While the sugar is heating put the egg whites into the clean KitchenAid bowl and attach the whisk, whipping until the whites start to foam.

When the whites have become foamy and the sugar syrup is at temperature remove the pan from the heat. Slowly drizzle the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl into to egg whites, being careful to avoid the whisk (A video demo will be available in the online courses area soon). Just before all the sugar has been added add the soaked and drained gelatine to the pan and use the remaining heat of the last of the sugar syrup to melt it.

Use a spatula to scrape in the melted gelatine and any contents left in the pan, again being careful to avoid the whisk. Turn up the KitchenAid to a medium to high speed and leave to whisk until the mixture cools and turns to a thick meringue (Tap your palm on the bottom of the bowl to check for when it is cool)

When the meringue mix is cool, add a small amount to the cream cheese mix with a whisk to loosen it and then fold the rest of the meringue in with a spatula.

Place the finished mix into a piping bag and pipe into your silicone stone moulds.

Take the cranberry inserts from the freezer and place one in the centre of each mould. Seal them inside by piping a little cheesecake mix on top and running a palette knife over the top of the moulds to flatten any mix. Place the tray in the freezer overnight or the blast freezer for 1-2 hours.

Finishing

Melt the cocoa butter in the microwave and blitz in the colour with a hand blender. Add the chocolate, putting the bowl back into the microwave until all the chocolate is melted.

Pass the mixture through a fine sieve into the cup of a Wagner Paint sprayer

remove the cheesecakes from their moulds onto a wire rack and coat with an even layer of chocolate spray.

Pass the glaze (cooled to 25c-35c) through a sieve into a jug and glaze one half of the cheesecakes with black glaze

Take the bases from the fridge and arrange them on a tray, using a small palette knife to move the cheesecakes on to the bases while they are still frozen.

Sprinkle a piece of silicone paper with icing sugar and roll out the black fondant, cut small strips and place over the middle of the cheesecake where the glaze meets the spray.

Roll out the yellow/ gold fondant in the same way and cut a square with a small square cutter or a knife and finish with a separate small rolled piece of fondant for a belt buckle.