Oven baked cheese cake with red fruit sauce

This cheesecake is as good as it gets. It is based on a cheese cake I have tried in London and since then I am dreaming the day that I will manage to make the same or at least close enough.

This recipe is almost there! Worth a try.

You can choose to spoon the sauce in the mixture before baking without mixing it (as above) or you can spread the red fruit sauce on top of the cheesecake after baking (as below)

Some cheesecakes are quite dense and very rich, whereas others are so airy they are almost like light mousse. This cheesecake lies in between - the filling is smooth and rich, but not heavy. It's a truly beautiful cheesecake!

INGREDIENTS:

for the base

• 3 cups digestive biscuits crushed or blended into crumbs

• 1/2 cup almonds ground almonds

• 1/4 cup cooking cream

• 75gr unsalted butter, melted

for the filling

• 750gr cream cheese softened

• 2/3 cups caster sugar

• 2 eggs

• grated rind of 1 lemon

• 1 tsp lemon juice

• 1 tsp vanilla essence

for the topping

• 1 1/2 cup mixed frozen red fruits (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries)

• 1/4 cup sugar (adjust quantity to your taste)

• 1 tsp lemon juice

DIRECTIONS:

First make the crust

• Stir together crumbs, ground almonds, cooking cream and melted butter

• With fingers, press crumb mixture into a 23cm spring form pan to come up to 5cm up the sides

• Chill crust well while making the filling

• Preheat oven to 190 C degrees

To make the filling

• Beat the cream cheese and sugar until well incorporated

• Pour cheese mixture into prepared crust

• Use a spatula to spread evenly

• Bake in pre heated oven for about 30-35 minutes

• Remove from oven and cool to room temperature

In the meantime while the cheese cake is baking...

• In a sauce pan pour the frozen fruits and cook slowly until melted

• Add the sugar and lemon juice

• Stir well until totally incorporated

• Leave to cool in room temperature

• When both the cheese cake and the red fruit sauce are totally cooled...

• Arrange the sauce on top of the cake and allow to chill for 6-12 hours before you serve

Tips:
1. The cheese cake can be made a few days ahead and kept covered and chilled
2. Another way to cool to  prevent cheesecake cracks is to initially cool it inside the oven                                                    3. Test your willpower by how many hours you’re forced to wait as the cheesecake cools down and then chills in the refrigerator. But every minute is completely worth it when you take that first luscious bite.