Easy Cheesecake

Here's the story.

I just got back from a holiday in Ibiza, and whilst we were there we went to a beach called Tropicana, and had some scrummy cheesecake at the restaurant. It's probably the best cheesecake I've ever tasted - perfect balance between creamy and sweet, and it had a little bit of strawberry coulis to cut through the tartness of the cheese. YUM

Just in case you don't believe how amazing it was, see for yourself.

DIVINE

 3 seconds later....

Well worth the calories...

Anyway, since I got home I've been craving cheesecake.

It's the best type of cake, hands down... 

So, I thought I'd make one. 

I actually got this recipe from one of my mum's old Evelyn Rose cookbooks - she's had it for over 30 years! It actually has specks of food inside, and some of the pages are a little stuck together (that's probably just leftover ingredients)..

This recipe was the most attractive, because it's the only tried and tested recipe I know of that is LOW FAT!

YES, low fat!

And still tasty.

Ingredients

Base

250g digestive biscuits, bashed into crumbs/dust with either a mallet or rolling pin (your choice)

70g melted butter

In the classiest way possible, pulverise the biscuits! You could also use a food processor to do this, but rolling pins are more fun!

Mix together with the melted butter, and then press into the bottom of a baking tin. No need to pre-bake, but I would suggest using baking paper or at least greasing the tin if you don't have one of those springform pans that come away at the bottom (like mine).

Firstly, preheat the oven to 180C

 Filling

240g curd cheese

240g quark cheese

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp lemon juice

50g melted butter

2 eggs, separated, put the whites to one side

50g caster sugar

2 tbsp corn flour (corn starch)

5 oz soured cream (the reduced fat version, of course)

Place the cheese, vanilla, lemon, butter, egg yolks, sugar, cornflour and soured cream in a large bowl (yes, exactly the order that they're listed), and beat with a whisk until smooth and thick - no handmixer needed.

In another bowl, whisk the egg whites until they form stiff and glossy peaks, and then add in 2 extra teaspoons of caster sugar and beat for another 15 seconds.

Fold this into the cheese mixture, and then spoon it into the tin on top of the digestives.

Bake for around 30 mins at 180, and then turn the oven off and leave it in there for another 4-5 mins.

Cheesecake can often be tricky, especially since all ovens are different. It's so easy to under or over bake it, so DON'T leave the kitchen and make sure you keep your eyes on the oven.

The recipe said that it'd be ready when the outer inch of the cake was firm to the touch. The middle of the cake 'jiggled' (is that a professional term?) when I moved the tin, but it was cooked. Cheesecake continues to bake even after it's out the oven, so it's better that it's undercooked than over. Overcooked cheesecake = EWW

Leave the cheesecake in a cool area (ideally out of your immediate sight, so you don't pick at it in the meantime), and once cooled, put it in the fridge until ready to serve.

The Final Product

(I realise that there is a massive chunk missing - I can assure you, I had nothing to do with that..........)

It's not exactly like the glorious Ibizan cheesecake I had, but it is relatively AMAZING considering this version has around 1/16th of the calories.

Enjoy! I know I will..

Jenny x