Okay so don’t shoot me, but I’ve honestly never been a fan of cheesecake. That all changed a couple of weeks ago however when I made my first New York style baked vanilla cheesecake and LOVED it.

I loved it so much in fact that I thought I’d share the recipe with you here.

Ingredients

For the crust:

• 100g of butter
• 160g of digestive biscuit, crushed

For the filling

• 900g of full-fat soft cheese
• 250g caster sugar
• 3tbsp plain flour
• 1/2tbsp of vanilla extract
• zest of 1 lemon, finely grated
• juice of half a lemon
• 3 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
• 200ml of sour cream

Method

1. First, make the base. Melt the butter in a saucepan and then add the crushed digestive biscuits. Stir until the digestive are coated in the butter, then line the bottom of a 20cm spring-formed or loose-bottomed tin with the mixture.
2. Put the base into a fan oven set at 160C for 10-15 minutes, then leave to cool.
3. Make the filling – put the soft cheese in a mixer with the paddle attachment fitted and beat until it softens up.
4. Add the sugar and flour until it is combined.
5. Change the paddle attachment to the whisk attachment, and add the vanilla extract, lemon zest and juice.
6. Add in the eggs one yolk at a time, and then add the sour cream. Be careful not to over-whisk the mixture.
7. Pour the mix onto the biscuit base, and increase the oven temperature to 200C fan. Put the cake in the oven for 10 minutes.
8. After 10 minutes, reduce the temperature of the oven down to 100C fan, and bake the cake for a further 30 minutes. It should still have a slight wobble in the middle after this time.
9. Turn the oven off, and leave the cake in the oven with the door shut for two hours to cool. If you want it really firm, place it in the fridge after this time, but if you like it a bit creamier, serve after it has cooled in the oven.

I served mine with a berry coulis made from some frozen berries heated in a few tablespoons of water and 2tbsp of sugar, then blended.

Enjoy, and let me know what you think in the comments!