Delicious Berry Cheesecake

I think one thing we can all agree on, whether we live in the country or the city, is what a hot and dry summer we have had this year!

And although Im looking forward to some cooler weather, the downside is, I will miss being able to buy berries in the supermarket at a reasonable price.

The recipe below I have been baking for several years now. It's a Tessa Kiros recipe from her gorgeous cookbook Falling Cloudberries. This cheesecake is a firm family favourite and one that has been whipped up for all occasions many, many times- dinner parties, birthdays, and I think we even had it for one of the children's christenings too (I know I should remember these things, but the last few years have been a bit of a blur!).  

This is a perfect dessert for any summertime entertaining, but when the prices of berries start going up, frozen ones will work equally well. Which also means….a great dessert for the cooler months too. 

Berry Cheesecake

250g Granita (or Digestive) Biscuits, coarsely crushed

125g Unsalted butter, melted

750g Cream Cheese, best at room temperature

250g Caster Sugar

4 eggs

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

2 teaspoon Cornflour

400g Fresh or Frozen Berries

1 teaspoon Lemon zest

Preheat your oven to 180 deg celcius. Grease a 24cm springform tin ( I also dust with a little flour too). Mix together the crushed biscuits and melted butter. Using the back of a spoon or your palms, press the biscuit mix into the tin so that it covers the base and up the side. Place in freezer whilst making the cream cheese mix- I find this helps the base 'set' before you had the mixture, and not crumbly. 

Whisk the cream cheese in a bowl with 200g of the sugar- the other 50g is needed for the berry mix so be careful not to pour it all in. Beat in the eggs one by one and then the vanilla until you have a smooth thick cream. Pour over the base and smooth the top with a spatula. Bake for about 40-50 minutes, or until lightly golden on top and wobbles only a little when you shake the tin.

Cool completely, then chill in fridge for a few hours.

To make the berry topping- mix the cornflour with a couple of tablespoons of cold water until it is smooth. Pour into a saucepan to heat up, then add the berries, lemon zest and the remaining sugar- the amount of sugar may depend on the sweetness of the berries. Cook for a couple of minutes, addend more water if it gets too thick. Combine and then remove from heat before berries collapse. Set aside to cool completely.

Spoon berry mix onto of cheesecake. Remove ring from tin. Serve with Ice cream, cream….or both!

This post is dedicated to the lovely Yvette from The Stylist Splash who recently asked me to be a guest blogger on her beautiful blog. It was my first guest post so I was incredibly excited to be working with Yvette and also so very chuffed. 

For those who missed my post last week about Yvette, you can read more here. Make sure you pop over and visit  The Stylist Splash for a daily dose of lovely lifestyle topics. 

I would also like to welcome all the new readers to my blog…. A very big Thank You for popping by. Its always nice to know that someone is reading my blog and all comments are so greatly appreciative too!!! 

Have a lovely day…..