Baked lemon cheesecake

This is one of my favourite desserts to make. It’s incredibly simple and great for a dinner party as you can make it in advance. It has a gorgeous Biscoff base and silky smooth lemon-y filling — all topped with sour cream, lemon curd and fresh raspberries.

Here are some top tips to make sure your cheesecake cooks perfectly and doesn’t crack:

1. Use full fat cream cheese (Philadelphia is best)

2. Make sure the cream cheese and eggs are at room temperature (this will stop the cheesecake from cracking)

3. Don’t over mix the filling. Baked cheesecakes are a delicate beast and don’t need overworking

4. Once the cheesecake is cooked, turn the oven off and whatever you do, DON’T OPEN THE DOOR. Leave the cheesecake in the oven for about four hours until it comes to room temperature and then put it in the fridge. It’ll keep for a few days in there

Ingredients

For the cheesecake:

·       250g Lotus biscuits

·       70g butter, melted

·       580g full fat cream cheese

·       250g tub mascarpone

·       1 tsp vanilla extract

·       50g plain flour

·       Zest 4 lemons, juice of 2

·       200g golden caster sugar

·       2 eggs, plus 2 egg yolks

For the topping:

·       150ml sour cream

·       6 heaped tbsp lemon curd (about half a jar)

·       Handful fresh raspberries

Method

1. Pre-heat your oven to 160°C fan/350°F/Gas 4.

2. Line the bottom of a 23cm springform tin with a circle of greaseproof paper

3. Tip the biscuits and melted butter into a food processor, then blitz to make fine crumbs. If you don’t have a food processor, place the biscuits in the largest bowl you can find and bash them with the end of a rolling pin. Once combined with the butter, press the mixture into the tin and chill it in the fridge while you get on with the filling

4. Whisk the cream cheese, mascarpone cheese, flour, eggs, egg yolks, vanilla extract, sugar, lemon juice and zest in a large bowl until completely combined. Don’t over mix it.

5. Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 35-40 mins until the cheesecake has a uniform wobble.

6. Once baked, turn off the oven and leaven the cheesecake inside until it’s completely cool (this normally takes around 4 hours)

7. When it’s completely cool, remove from the tin and top with the sour cream. Swirl lemon curd over the top of the sour cream and decorate with fresh raspberries. You can store it in the fridge if you prefer to eat it cold. It will keep for a few days (if you can resist it for that long!).