Yam Cheesecake with Glazed Almonds

Made this cheesecake for my friend's birthday.  The yam, or Japanese sweet potato as it is called here, gives a beautiful purple coloour to the filling.  There is a peanut butter fudge layer separating the crust and the filling and it is topped with glazed almonds!  The filling is deliberately made a little less sweet since the fudge layer and the topping are sweet enough.



Ingredients

For the base

- half a packet of Arnotts biscuits (crushed)

- 150g of melted butter

For the Fudge layer

- 50g butter

- 1 cup brown sugar

- 1 tbls white sugar

- 3/4 cup of milk

- 1 tbls creamy peanut butter

For the Filling

- 2 x 8 ounce packets of cream cheese

- 1/3 cup white sugar

- 3 medium Japanese sweet potato (boiled.  Makes about 2 cups)

- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

- 4 eggs

- 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

- 1/3 cup of whipping cream

For the Glazed almond topping

- 2 tbls butter

- 1/2 cup brown sugar

- 1/3 cup whipping cream or sour cream

 - 3/4 cup of chopped toasted almonds

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 160C.
2. Combine the melted butter and crushed biscuits and press into the bottom of a greased 8" springform pan.
3. Bake the base for 8 minutes then remove from oven to cool
4. For the fudge layer, in a medium saucepan combine butter, sugar and cook on a high heat.
5. Stir constantly as the mixture bubbles away.  The mixture will become hot enough that a teaspoon of it put into cold water stays in a ball.  When this happens take the mixture off the heat and stop stirring
6. Put the peanut butter in the middle and let it cool naturally till it loses gloss.  Then stir with a wooden spoon mixing in the peanut butter.
7. Pour into the spring-form pan and let cool or freeze for 20 minutes.
8. Now you can make the cheesecake filling by beating together the cream cheese, sugar and add 1 egg at a time, the vanilla essence and cream to make a smooth filling.   Separate 1 cup of the mixture that we will use later for marbling.
9. To the main mixture add the softened yam and cinnamon.  Continue to combine the ingredients.
10. Pour half into the springform pan (The fudge layer should now be hardened).
11. On top pour half of the separated mixture and with a metal spatula make streaks combining the two giving a marbling effect.  Continue to add and layer and marble the rest of the mixture.
12. Reduce the heat to 140C and bake for 45 minutes surrounded in a tray with 1 inch of water.
13. After that let the cheesecake cool with oven door ajar for a further 45 minutes.
14. Meanwhile make the glazed almonds by combining the first 3 ingredients of the topping until well combined over a low-heat.  Once thickened a little remove from heat and stir in the almonds.
15. Remove the cheesecake from the oven and run a sharp knife around the edge of the pan. 
16. Pour the topping atop the cake and refrigerate for 6 hours or over-night (i usually cook at night).
17. In the morning carefully remove the springform pan.  The topping should now be hard.

Great with a cup of coffee for breakfast, after yoga of course :-)

Enjoy!

The base after cooking

The fudge layer after refrigeration