Simple and Easy Cheesecake

Just because I am currently making one and I am not my Aunts, here it is…

Utensils I Use
Springform Cake Tin
Measuring Cups and Spoons
Scales
Ancient Mix Master
Blender
Refrigerator

Base

125g Nice biscuits crushed/crumbled/destroyed in blender
90g butter melted

Mix these together and press over the base. Put into fridge while making filling.  Also, clean up after yourself before you start on the filling. It gets part of the cleaning out of the way and also lets the base cool down.

Filling
250g Philadelphia cream cheese
1/2 cup condensed milk
2 tablespoons lemon juice
140ml cream

Whip the cream into stiff peaks, put aside. With room temperature cream cheese add condensed milk and lemon juice and beat until smooth. Fold in whipped cream. Pour over base and put back in the fridge overnight to set.

Whatever you do, don’t forget the lemon juice as it ‘sets’ the ingredients

Topping

Strawberries or Raspberries or really whatever floats your boat

An appropriate jelly for your berries or fruit, mixed and cooled but not yet set
Cream

Whip the cream to stiff peaks and pipe onto edge of cake. If you don’t have a pipe bag, just use a normal sandwich bag and cut the tip of one corner off, it works just as well. Decorate top of cake with said berries then spoon over the cooled jelly mixture. Put back into the fridge until ready to be served so that the jelly sets.  You don’t have to use all of the jelly either, just enough to cover the berries.  I’ll update with another photograph this afternoon after I have dressed my cake – at the moment, it is setting in the fridge!

When ready to serve, run a knife around the cake tin, release the catch and there you go, ready to be cut and plated.

If you only have frozen berries available, that is fine but defrost them fully before you put them on the cake otherwise the moisture will leech into the cake and make it sloppy.  Also, be quite selective about the cream you use – if you can get fresh raw cream DO IT. I have a mate with a Jersey cow running about the place and it is the best possible cream I have ever used. However if you have to do with Supermarket cream make sure you get the freshest possible, look to the back of the cabinet.

If you want to do a gluten free cake, use gluten free biscuits and also be very selective about the other products, check the labels.

Enjoy!