Ingredients
- 75g salted butter
- 225g digestive biscuits, finely crushed
For the topping:
- 450g soft cream cheese, at room temperature
- 250g sour cream
- 150g caster sugar
- 4 eggs, separated
- 50g plain flour
- 1 vanilla pod, split in half and seeds scraped out
- 2 lemons, finely grated rind and juice
- Icing sugar, to decorate
- Lightly whipped cream, to serve
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 160°C.
- To make the base of the cheesecake, grease a 23cm loose-bottomed cake tin.
- Melt the butter in a pan over a gentle heat. Add the crushed biscuits and mix well to combine. Spread the mixture evenly over the bottom of the tin, pressing down with the back of a spoon to flatten into the corners. Chill for 15 minutes to firm up.
- Meanwhile, make the cheesecake topping. Place the soft cream cheese, sour cream, caster sugar, egg yolks, plain flour, vanilla seeds, lemon rind and juice in a bowl. Beat together with a handheld electric mixer until smooth and well combined. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Using a large metal spoon. Carefully fold the whites into a cream cheese mixture until just combined.
- Carefully pour the soft cream cheese mixture over the biscuit base in the tin. Using a palette knife, spread out evenly to cover the base completely.
- Bake for 1 hour or until golden brown and just set. It should be slightly wobbly in the middle so give it a gentle shake. Turn off the oven but leave your cake to cool inside. This prevents it from cracking.
- Once cool, carefully remove from the tin and transfer to a flat plate.
- To serve, dust the cheesecake with icing sugar and scatter over the pared lemon rind just before serving. Cut into slices and arrange on plates with cream.
Recipe courtesy of Kerrygold.
