Serves 10
75g butter, melted
12 digestive biscuits
2 large eggs
400g soft cheese
1 small orange
1 unwaxed lemon
125g caster sugar
4tbsp creme fraiche
– Preheat the oven to Gas mark 4 and grease the inside of a 20cm loose bottomed or sprong cake tin.
– Put the biscuits in a freezer bag and gently crush them with a rolling pin until they are crumbs.
– Mix the biscuits with the melted butter and press evenly into the bottom of the tin to make a firm base.
– Beat the eggs in a large bowl and add the soft cheese, beat thoroughly.
– Grate the zest of the orange and the lemon into the mixture and add 3tbsp of the juice of each.
– Add the sugar and the creme fraiche and beat thoroughly until smooth.
– Spoon the mixture into the tin on top of the biscuit base.
– Bake for 30-35 mins.
– If possible turn off the heat and leave it in the oven until both are cool, preferably overnight. If not simply remove from the oven and leave to cool, again preferably overnight. The texture of the cake is much improved by letting it stand for this time. The faster the cake cools the more likely it is to crack although sometimes no matter what you do it will crack anyway as you can see below.
– Run a knife around the edge of the tin to loosen it and then remove from the tin and place on a plate.
Variations
– Add 75g fresh blueberries to the mixture for blueberry cheesecake.
– Make with ginger biscuits and lime instead of the orange for ginger and lime cheesecake.
– Make with Oreos for both the base and stir through cushed Oreos for an Oreo cheesecake.
Anna in the kitchen 