The actress Hedy Lamarr reportedly said “Because you don’t live near a bakery doesn’t mean you have to go without cheesecake.” Absolutely right – I live near a bakery but they don’t sell cheesecakes so I make my own. Not too often, mind you because it’s not exactly diet food and with summer approaching, I’m trying to be good. At 42, I’m a bit past obsessing about a “beach body” but the sea is not far from us and when it gets a bit warmer and we do venture down there, I don’t want to be mistaken for a beach ball!
I just love the scope for variety and experimentation with cheesecake – baked, no bake, ice cream and you can vary flavours by season – nice fresh strawberry or lemon for a lovely summer dessert or start experimenting with more autumnal fruits like blackberries when the weather starts to turn colder and the days shorten. There’s also potential to mess about with different biscuit for the base – why stick with just digestives when there’s so much else in the world of biscuits?
I prefer a no-bake cheesecake but I’d be hard pushed to commit to a single favourite flavour – although we had a salted caramel one at Christmas which would definitely be a strong contender. There are so many good combinations but I guess if you really pressed me for a favourite I would have to say lemon with some kind of berry. It’s just such a perfect balance of flavours – which is basically how this cheesecake came about.
This recipe was originally supposed to be a no-bake cheesecake. When I first attempted the filling it was just the perfect balance of lemon, sweetness and tang! It was light, fluffy, kind of mousse-y and just heavenly. But it wasn’t cheesecake! Unfortunately even after chilling overnight it just did NOT want to set and retained that mousse consistency. Taste wise I could have just eaten it all with a spoon but it wasn’t the texture I needed. I sulked about it for a while before deciding that it was far too nice to just scrap completely so I’ve side lined the recipe for another idea that’s in the works – silver linings and all that!
After a few more failed attempts to create a no-bake filling which would support the set layer on top, I had to (rather grumpily) concede that I wasn’t going to be able to execute this particular idea with a no-bake cheesecake (humph).
More on that set fruit layer now – I was surprised because I guesstimated it and it worked first time. One thing I learned the hard way (by which I mean nearly breaking my jaw on a pip) was to push the fruit through a fine mesh sieve before adding the gelatine – I mean I should have done that anyway because compote should be smooth, right? I do have a brain, honest – it just works a bit slower than everything else sometimes.
If you don’t have any or yours need replacing you can pick up a set of fine mesh sieves fairly cheap. We had a plastic one which broke while I was draining pasta in it which is why we bought ours – they are such a handy thing to have. I would advise from experience to choose metal ones as opposed to plastic as they are far sturdier. I have a set like these and I use the small ones when juicing lemons or oranges just to make sure no pesky pips slip through from the juicer, the medium one for things like this and the large one for pasta, potatoes, rice etc. We’re talking kitchen essentials here!
So please let me know what you think via the contact form or in the comments – and if the mood takes you then high-tail it over to your social media and let me know your thoughts on favourite cheesecake variety/flavour because we all need more #cheesecake in our lives – except me I need less because #diet and #dontmistakemeforabeachball. Enjoy DDx!
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Baked lemon and berry cheesecake bars
- Total Time: 1 hours 20 minutes
- Yield: 8
Description
A creamy baked lemon cheesecake with a set fruity top jewelled with fresh berries!
Ingredients
Base:
- 180 g digestive biscuits, crushed
- 75 g butter, melted
Filling:
- 325 g cream cheese
- 50 ml double cream
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 95 g caster sugar
- 2 lemons, zested and juiced
Topping:
- 300g frozen summer fruits
- 1–2 tablespoons caster sugar
- 2 sheets of leaf gelatine
- 100 g blueberries
- A little icing sugar (OPTIONAL)
Instructions
- Line an 8inch (20cm) cake tin with baking paper (I line it up and over the sides so I can lift the finished cheesecake out easily).
- Put the digestives into your food processor and blitz to fine crumbs. Melt the butter and then mix with the biscuit crumbs to form a mixture that resembles wet sand. Press this into the prepared tin firmly and evenly. Chill for 1 hour (or freeze for 20 minutes).
- Preheat the oven to 180℃ / fan 160℃ / 312℉.
- Put the cream cheese in a mixing bowl and beat to soften. Add the lemon juice and zest, double cream, eggs and caster sugar and mix well until combined. Pour the mixture over the chilled base.
- Bake for 30 minutes and then turn off the oven – leaving the cheesecake inside to continue cooking gently in the residual heat for 15 minutes until completely set.
- Remove from the oven, cool at room temperature and chill for at least 6 hours.
- Put the sheets of gelatine in a bowl of cold water, ensuring they are covered. Soak while you cook the fruit.
- Put the frozen fruit in a large saucepan and sprinkle over 1 tablespoon of caster sugar. Cook over a medium heat for 10-15 minutes until the fruit is soft and breaking down. Taste and add more caster sugar if necessary (I like to leave a little bit of tang!)
- Remove from the heat and immediately push through a fine mesh sieve to remove pips and seeds. In your hand, squeeze the gelatine sheets to remove any excess water. Drop into the hot fruit puree and stir until completely dissolved.
- Leave the fruit puree to cool but keep checking on it as we don’t want it to set.
- When the puree has cooled down, pour it evenly over the top of the chilled cheesecake. Dot the fresh berries over and pop back in the fridge for at least 2 hours to set.
- Cut into 8 bars and dust with a little icing sugar if you like.
Notes
- Please don’t be intimidated by the amount of chilling time – this can be made in advance the day before you need it!
- I’ve used summer fruits for the compote and blueberries on top but use what you have – I always have frozen fruit in the freezer because it’s so handy!
- Prep Time: 20 minutes (+ 6.5 hours chilling time)
- Cook Time: 1 hour
Nutrition
- Serving Size: Per serving
- Calories: 438.72kcal
