Baking Recipe: Creamy Lemon Cheesecake (Chilled)

Non dairy lovers, I suggest you look away now, because this cake is so lusciously creamy that I think you will be drooling over it. Therefore, you are not to blame me to convert you.. LOLs.

Today's my daddy dearest birthday, and ever since I was a kid; I knew his all time favourite cake has always been the cheesecake. Lets just say I have quite a lot of vague memories of us walking down the frozen or chilled section at a supermarket, and we never failed to pick up Sara Lee's Strawberry Cheesecake. That's also one of my very first encounter of this sinful treat.

Now that I'm older, I am not into all the frozen cakes unless I've got no choice or a craving. Otherwise, home made or baked from scratch is the way to go now for me. I dare say this Creamy Lemon Cheesecake is one of the best recipes and I hope you enjoy making it as much I did.. In my opinion this is a fantastic summer dessert too.

In a nutshell it is CREAMY. LIGHT. FLUFFY. LEMONY. MELTS IN YOUR MOUTH!!

Note: I've ran out of digestive biscuits, so I decided to bake the base of the cake. The base is an aromatic butter cookie base which is crumbly and melts in the mouth when you eat it. So take note that it's not a hard base where you have to chew with all your might.

Recipe

For the base
Do prepare base in advance before preparing the filling.

*Baked from scratch
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour, sifted
1/2 cup or 1 stick unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1-2 tsp vanilla extract

**Using digestives
1/3 cup butter, melted
250g digestive biscuits, approx 1 packet or 8 ounces
2-4 tbsp powdered sugar (adjust according to your level of sweetness, but don't go overboard)
1-2 tsp vanilla extract

*To prepare biscuit base (baked from scratch):

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor, blend flour, butter, 1/3 cup sugar and salt until moist crumbs form (this may take up to approx1-2 minutes).

2. Make sure to lightly grease pan with butter and sprinkle flour over the pan.

3. Transfer dough to a 9-inch spring form cake pan with a removable bottom.

4. With floured fingers, press dough evenly into pan and up sides. Dip a dry measuring cup in flour, and use it to press dough firmly into bottom and against sides of pan. Freeze crust until firm for about 10-15 minutes.

5. Using a form, prick crust all over. Bake until golden, 20-25 minutes, pressing down gently once or twice with a spoon during baking if crust puffs up. Let cool completely in pan.

**To prepare biscuit base (using digestives):

1. With a food processor, blitz digestives until bread crumbs like texture. Make sure to not over blitz, otherwise you will get powdered biscuits.

2. Meanwhile in a microwave, melt butter for about 30secs or up to 1 minute if required.

3. In a mixing bowl, using a spatula mix butter, digestive crumbs, powdered sugar and vanilla extract until well combined.

4. In a 9-inch spring form cake pan, press dough evenly, and chill in refrigerator until set.

For the filling:

500g philly cream cheese, 1 1/2 ounces
120g castor sugar, approx 1/3 cup
50ml lemon juice, approx 6 tbsp + 2 tsp
lemon zest, grated from 2 lemons (optional)
1 1/2 tbsp powdered gelatine, dissolved in 100ml cold or room temperature water
350ml thickened cream, whipped
1-2 tsp clear vanilla extract

To prepare filling:

1. With a wired whisk in a stand mixer, whip whipped cream until stiff peaks. Set aside.

2. Using the same mixing bowl with a paddle attachment at medium, cream cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice and zest until smooth. Swith to low speed and pour in gelatine and vanilla extract until well combined. With a spatula, gently fold in whipped cream, making sure to not over beat it. Otherwise mixture will turn runny.

3. Pour mixture on to biscut base. Cover cake pan and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or over night. Thaw for about 1-2 minutes before serving.

xx