My Favourite Baked Cheesecake

This is my go to recipe whenever I want to make a cheesecake. It has a cake crumb crust and not too much of it. The filling is very smooth and velvety with a hint of lemon. 

 

To make the cake crumbs I purchase a block of Pound cake/Madeira cake from the supermarket and break it up into crumbs in the food processor. Trim the brown edges away before crumbing so that the crumbs are all pale. If you want to make the cake a simple buttercake would be suitable.

Baked Cheesecake

Ingredients

1 ½ to 2 tablespoons butter, melted 1 1/2cups fine plain cake crumbs (from white, yellow or pound cake) 500 gm cream cheese at room temperature

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice 2 teaspoons vanilla 300 ml  sour cream 1 ¼ cups caster sugar 4 large eggs, at room temperature, slightly beaten

Method

Place oven rack in centre of oven; heat to 160C.

Cut a piece of baking parchment to fit neatly into the base of the tin, it must not go up the sides.

Coat springform pan evenly with butter. Place cake crumbs in pan; tilt and rotate pan to evenly coat bottom and sides with crumbs, use your fingers to press the crumbs gently into place. Place pan in the fridge until the filling is made. This helps set the crumbs.

Cut cream cheese into smaller pieces; place in food processor or large mixer bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping down sides of bowl as needed, until completely smooth.

Add lemon juice, sugar and vanilla. Process or beat until mixture is smooth.

Add sour cream and eggs to cheese mixture; pulse or beat at medium speed until blended. Do not over beat the mixture as you will make too many air bubbles

Pour batter into reserved cake pan. Tap the tin gently on the bench and allow it to sit for a little while so that any air bubbles can come to the surface and be broken.

Bake until sides of cake are set 5 cm in from edges and centre is still pudding like, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Turn oven off. Let cake stand in oven with door propped open for 30 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let cool undisturbed until sides and bottom of pan are completely cooled to room temperature. Remove sides of pan. Refrigerate cake overnight or for several hours.