Bistro style baked cheesecake

Serves:

Ingredients

• 1 cup plain sweet biscuit crumbs
• 1 cup almond meal
• 75g unsalted butter, melted
• 375g Philadelphia cream cheese, softened
• 500g ricotta
• 4 eggs
• 2 tablespoons cornflour
• 2 tablespoons cold water
• 1 ½ cups caster sugar
• Finely chopped zest and juice of 1 lemon

Method

Butter the base of a 20cm springform pan and line with non-stick baking paper.

In a bowl, combine biscuit crumbs, almond meal and melted butter. Press firmly into the base of the pan and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 150°C. Mix cornflour and water together in a small bowl to make a runny paste. Place cream cheese in a food processor and whiz until smooth, add ricotta and whiz again to combine. Add the eggs, cornflour mixture, sugar, lemon zest and juice. Whiz until all combined. What a wonderful lemony smell!

Pour cream cheese filling into pan. Place onto a baking tray (just in case there is overflow or seepage from the springform pan). Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Check to see if the cheesecake is set in the middle, if not, bake for another 10-15 minutes.

Cool in pan, then run a knife around the edge of the pan, release sides of pan and transfer to a serving plate. I leave the cheesecake on the base of the pan, it’s too tricky to get off while the cheesecake is still warm; the baking paper provides a good barrier from the metal.

Refrigerate until cold, then serve with strawberries and thick cream.

Recipe created by Melissa Hughes for Kidspot.

Notes:

• This amount filled my springform pan right to the top (depth 6cm), don’t panic, it doesn’t rise and makes for a very impressive cheesecake.
• Make this dessert the day before, because it is even better after 12-24 hours in the fridge. I would recommend not going for the second helping – great idea at the time, but does lead to significant indigestion! Save it for the next day.
• I purposefully made a Full Fat cheesecake this week, if you are going to indulge, cheesecake is certainly the way to do it! But will make a reduced fat one next week.

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Serving Suggestions

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