Marilyn Munroe Cheesecake
This was the first recipe my daughter sent me when we began the exchange of recipes that led to this blog. And all along i thought i had put it in the blog. Although it is indeed called a Marilyn Munroe Cheesecake, it is your basic New York cooked cheesecake, with no gelatine.
Many thanks to my good friend Christel for the inspiration to finally get it up on the blog!
Many thanks to my good friend Christel for the inspiration to finally get it up on the blog!

If Marilyn was a cheesecake, this would be her…..
Base 1
Get a plainish sponge cake [say, “Vanilla Sponge or Genoise] from the bakery section of a grocery store and cut it about 1 cm in thickness (slice it horizontally into layers, as it were)
Pack it one layer thick tightly in the bottom of a buttered springform pan and pour some Galliano, Grand Marnier or other flavourful liquor over it.
Base 2
Take:
Mix biscuit crumbs, sugar, melted butter and cinnamon until well blended. Press mixture into a 20 or 23cm (8 or 9 in) tart tin or pie dish.
Bake in the preheated oven for 7 minutes. Cool. If recipe calls for unbaked base, just chill for about 1 hour.
Filling:
Take 225 g (8 oz) white sugar and mix it with 3 tablespoons of corn flour and beat with about 600 + 650 g (1 ½ lb) full-fat soft cream cheese (Mascarpone is best />) but ordinary will do).
Beat 2 large eggs into the mix and 1 splurge of orange liquor, such as Grand Marnier. Keep mixing.
Add 300 ml (10 fl oz) of whipping crème and mix till it is smooth and thick.
Pour the mix over the sponge base and put it in a 180 C/350 F pre heated oven and bake for 45-50 mins. The top should be golden and it will be a slight bit wobbly still. No problem. If it isn’t golden but looks done you can always flame it or grill it later.
Refrigerate it for at least 6 hours to set.
It is so good just by itself, but you can also do things like put orange or lemon zest in it. And this year I simmered two oranges in water for an hour and half. Let them cool and sliced them whole very thinly. I put the slices on a plate and covered them with sugar. Left them all day, topping up the sugar. By the end of the day they were candied oranges and went really good on top the cheesecake with their juice poured over too.
Base 1
Get a plainish sponge cake [say, “Vanilla Sponge or Genoise] from the bakery section of a grocery store and cut it about 1 cm in thickness (slice it horizontally into layers, as it were)
Pack it one layer thick tightly in the bottom of a buttered springform pan and pour some Galliano, Grand Marnier or other flavourful liquor over it.
Base 2
Take:
- 250g finely ground digestive biscuit crumbs
- 5 tablespoons caster sugar
- 100g butter, melted
- A little ground ginger (optional)
Mix biscuit crumbs, sugar, melted butter and cinnamon until well blended. Press mixture into a 20 or 23cm (8 or 9 in) tart tin or pie dish.
Bake in the preheated oven for 7 minutes. Cool. If recipe calls for unbaked base, just chill for about 1 hour.
Filling:
Take 225 g (8 oz) white sugar and mix it with 3 tablespoons of corn flour and beat with about 600 + 650 g (1 ½ lb) full-fat soft cream cheese (Mascarpone is best />) but ordinary will do).
Beat 2 large eggs into the mix and 1 splurge of orange liquor, such as Grand Marnier. Keep mixing.
Add 300 ml (10 fl oz) of whipping crème and mix till it is smooth and thick.
Pour the mix over the sponge base and put it in a 180 C/350 F pre heated oven and bake for 45-50 mins. The top should be golden and it will be a slight bit wobbly still. No problem. If it isn’t golden but looks done you can always flame it or grill it later.
Refrigerate it for at least 6 hours to set.
It is so good just by itself, but you can also do things like put orange or lemon zest in it. And this year I simmered two oranges in water for an hour and half. Let them cool and sliced them whole very thinly. I put the slices on a plate and covered them with sugar. Left them all day, topping up the sugar. By the end of the day they were candied oranges and went really good on top the cheesecake with their juice poured over too.