With a family Sunday lunch, I had offered to make dessert, and it needed to be travel friendly. So many desserts are not travel friendly if you are hauling them across London on public transport. Forget anything with pastry, or meringue… You need something sturdy. Whilst racking my brain for a sturdy dessert, cheesecake sprang to mind. I hadn’t made a baked cheesecake in years. It was time to make another.
This recipe creates a cheesecake with a gorgeous, fluffy interior yet is rich and decadent too. The newborn in the family, baby Catherine, tried a little piece. Her face scrunched up… But then a smile and lip-smacking ensued. She liked it! It was her fist food. She’s only five months. What better recommendation can you get?!
You can dress this cheesecake anyway you like, but I always find cheesecakes work best with something slightly tart. Fresh raspberries are not only incredibly beautiful to look at, but their slight tang works a treat with the cheesecake.
Ingredients
- For the base – 100g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
- 200g Digestive biscuits
- 50g caster sugar
- Filling – 500g cream cheese
- 200g caster sugar
- 3 eggs
- 2 tablespoons cornflour
- 300ml sour cream
- 3 teaspoons vanilla essence
Method
- Lightly grease a 20cm spring-form round tin.
- Gently melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat.
- Place the biscuits in a food processor and blitz until they resemble sand. Add the sugar and the melted butter and blitz again to combine.
- Place the biscuit mixture into the base of the tin and smooth down evenly using the back of a spoon. Refrigerate for half an hour.
- Preheat the oven to 150˚C. In a large mixing bowl, place the cream cheese and sugar and beat with an electric mixer for 2 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Add the cornflour, sour cream and vanilla and mix again for 30 seconds.
- Pour the filling into the tin and bake for 1 hour. When cooked, the cake will be well-risen and a little wobbly in the centre. Do not over bake, or you run the risk of the cake cracking. Turn the oven off and leave the door ajar, allowing the cake to cool in the oven.
- When cool, refrigerate, and then decorate as close to serving as possible.
