White chocolate and lemon cheesecake
Chocolate doesn't have to be dark to make a sweet splash for dessert. This cheesecake is one of my favourite fast-dessert recipes as it's quick to prepare, then it cools overnight so it's ready to go the next day. If it's strawberry season I wash two punnets of berries, throw them in a baking tray with ½ a cup of sugar and roast them in the oven at 180C for 10 minutes. They cook a little and the juice mixes with the warm sugar to make a fantastic sauce.
Ingredients
320g digestive biscuits
80g butter, melted
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
400g white chocolate*
200ml thickened cream
500g cream cheese
150g castor sugar
2 lemons, juiced
zest from one lemon
1 tsp vanilla essence
5 eggs, beaten
strawberries (optional - see introduction)
* White chocolate has to contain a minimum of 20 per cent cocoa butter to be labelled as chocolate, otherwise it is known as confection. Keep this in mind when buying this kind of chocolate for cooking, as it tastes better the more cocoa butter it has.
Method
1. Preheat oven to 175C.
2. Break the biscuits into a food processor and process to a fine crumb, then add the butter, cinnamon and ginger. Process until the butter is mixed through the biscuit; it will look wet.
3. Pour biscuit mixture into a 26-centimetre springform cake tin and press down with the back of a spoon to make a smooth base. Bake base for 10 minutes then remove from the oven and cool while you make the filling. Keep the oven on 175C.
4. Place the white chocolate in a stainless steel bowl and sit it on top of a pot of simmering water to melt.
5. Pour the cream into the food processor then cut the cream cheese into small pieces and add it to the bowl of the processor with the sugar, lemon juice, zest and vanilla. Process until the mixture is smooth, but don't overmix it.
6. Add the eggs, mix briefly, then add the melted chocolate and mix again. The mixture will seem quite liquid.
7. Pour mixture over the baked base and bake in the centre of the oven for about 45 minutes.
8. Remove from the oven and cool before refrigerating overnight. Serve when it has chilled in the centre.
Tip: The cheesecake will seem runny after the cooking time but don't keep cooking it as it will set once cooled.
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Original URL: https://www.watoday.com.au/goodfood/recipes/white-chocolate-and-lemon-cheesecake-20160316-4c4s4.html