22 May 2014

my own version of a baked blueberry cheesecake


I've been wanting to make a baked blueberry cheesecake for quite some time now and I thought my recent week's break would be the perfect time. However, I thought I'd add my own twist to it by adding lemon juice and zest to the cream cheese mixture and using Oreo biscuits for the base instead of digestive biscuits. Although I had looked up a few recipes for a baked cheesecake, this invention is one of my own (I've not seen one with this combination on the internet).


I baked the cheesecake over a tray of water but there was still some cracking visible at the surface. However, the cheesecake had a lovely brown colour at the edges and a lovely golden colour at the top. Being an average novice baker, I was pleasantly surprised at how well it turned out aesthetically.


For the topping, I made blueberry compote and then poured it over the top of the cheesecake before refrigerating it.

The final result looks quite appetising and having to wait overnight before I could try a bite was excruciating agony. However, the wait was worth it and although there was a lot of waiting time involved with the making of this cake, I would do it all over again. Only during uni holidays though - I don't know when else I'd find a free few hours kicking about. Taste-wise, the hint of lemon added something extra to the sweet taste of the blueberry compote topping.

I adapted the recipe from a few I'd seen online - the most notable one being this Philadelphia one.

Baked Blueberry Cheesecake
with a hint of lemon, an Oreo biscuit base and topped with a blueberry compote.

Ingredients: 

for the base: 
22 Oreo cookies - crumbed,
40g of melted butter,

for the cheesecake:
400g Philadelphia Light,
3 eggs - beaten,
1 lemon's worth of juice,
1 lemon's worth of zest,
100g caster sugar,
1 teaspoon vanilla extract,
30g plain flour
a few blueberries

for the compote:
400g blueberries,
100g granulated sugar
Method:

1) Preheat oven to 160 degrees C.

2) Crumb the Oreo cookies in a food processor (or use a rolling pin and bag if you want to relieve some stress). Mix the crumbed cookies in with the melted butter. Once thoroughly mixed, press the mixture into the base of a cake tin.

3) In a bowl, mix together the Philadelphia, caster sugar, vanilla extract, lemon juice and lemon zest until smooth. Add eggs slowly (I added them in thirds).

4) Sift flour into the cheesecake mixture and mix.

5) Pour the cheesecake mixture over the base in the cake tin. Sprinkle over some blueberries (add as much or as little as you want).

6) Put into the oven over a tray of water. Bake for 1 hour 15 - 1 hour 45. I left mine in for 1 hour 45 but ultimately, I think it depends on your oven so keep an eye on it. Once it is a golden brown in colour at the edges, it is done.

7) While waiting for it to bake, it's time to make the compote! Stir half of the remaining blueberries with the granulated sugar in a saucepan, over a low heat. Once most of the blueberries have visibly disappeared, add the rest of the blueberries. Let it cook for 5 mins - you want some of the blueberries to stay spherical in shape.

8) Once the cheesecake is done, take it out of the oven and let it cool. Once cool, pour the compote over the top and refrigerate for at least four hours. I did mine overnight and it was perfect.

9) Enjoy!

1 comment

  1. Miam! :D
    Looks sooo yummy. I've been dreading to make a coco flan but this seems easier! :) I might use cherries instead of blueberries because cherry season has just started in France! :)

    ReplyDelete