Velvet Vanilla Cheesecake Served With Dark Berries

This delicate cold-set vanilla cheesecake is light, creamy and effortlessly elegant.

It lends itself to so many different plating options - here it is enhanced by a crisp decorative tuile biscuit and rich blackberries and blueberries. It's a perfect combination of deep berry flavours and smooth vanilla. Finished with fresh berries and Chantilly cream, it's a refined dessert that feels both indulgent and refreshingly light.

Recipes Used in This Dessert

• Vanilla Cheesecake
• Blackberry and Blueberry Coulis
• Tuile Biscuits

Components per Portion

• 1 piece vanilla cheesecake
• Blackberry and blueberry coulis
• Whipped Chantilly cream
• Fresh blackberries and blueberries
• Chain of circles tuile biscuit
• Mint tip

Useful Equipment

• Small squeeze bottle for saucing
• Small offset spatula
• Piping bag

Preparing Components

• Put a little coulis into a small squeeze bottle to use for garnishing.
• Cut the cheesecake into square portions, dipping your knife in hot water and drying it between each cut. This will give you neat, professional-looking slices with clean edges.
• Put the cream into a piping bag, ready to use.

Step-by-Step Plating

Plate Selection

• Choose a suitable plate for your dessert. I have decided to use a blue plate to enhance the effect of the dark berries on this dessert.

Saucing the Plate

• It's always easier to sauce the plate before adding the dessert, so take the squeeze bottle of coulis and draw a line almost all the way across the plate and slightly off centre.
• Add another longer line, parallel to the first. It doesn't need to be perfect. The nozzle of the squeeze bottle can also touch the plate giving you a bit more control.
• Add another line at right angles. Turn the plate if you need to - I find this makes it easier for me going left to right.

Position the Cheesecake

• Carefully position the cheesecake in the bigger section created by the coulis. An offset spatula is great for positioning desserts like this. Try to keep the cheesecake square with the coulis lines.

Adding the Cream and Berries

• Pipe a small rosette onto the centre of the cheesecake. This will act as a base to stick the berries into.
• Arrange the blackberries on top. An odd number of berries will look best, so if they're big, use three and if they're smaller go for five.
• Add the blueberries in the gaps.

Finishing Touches

• Carefully position the tuile biscuit on top. Try to angle it upwards and use the cream and berries to help hold and stabilise it. Tuile biscuits are very delicate so it's a good idea to have a few more than you need just incase you break one while plating.
• The final touch for this dessert is a mint tip - add it in the front, in-between the berries. A little pop of green will almost always enhance any dish.

Final Dessert

There you have your beautifully plated dessert. When plating multiple portions, line up your plates and complete each step on all plates before moving to the next step.

Don't be limited by the saucing on this dessert, you can sauce the plate however you like. If you would like some more ideas, have a look at some of the other step-by-step plating guides and try a different saucing idea.