Cheesecake!

But not just any cheesecake, Nigella's London Cheesecake! I was torn between her New York cheesecake and the London one, but I eventually decided on the London Cheesecake as I had never really heard of one before. The recipe is from her How to be a Domestic Goddess book and definitely my favourite of her books! As you will have noticed I bake quite a lot from this book and would always recommend it is as a book that, if you don't already own, you should buy! The London Cheesecake is made up of three layers and cooked in a bain-marie (roasting tray filled with boiling water) but don't let this scare you off as the end result is much too tasty, trust me, as someone who doesn't always like cheesecakes I can definitely say that this is a damn tasty cake!

Much love Alex-Rose xxxx

London Cheesecake- From Nigella Lawson's How to be a Domestic Goddess

Ingredients:

• 150g Digestive Biscuits
• 75g Melted butter
• 600g Cream Cheese (Philadelphia cheese)
• 150g Caster sugar
• 3 Large eggs
• 3 Large egg yolks
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons of Vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons of lemon juice
• 150ml tub of Sour cream
• 1 Tablespoon of Caster sugar
• 1/2 a teaspoon of Vanilla extract

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 180c.

Start by either bashing or blitzing (in a food processor) the digestive biscuits to form regimented crumbs, stir into the melted butter and press into the bottom of your spring-form tin before putting in the fridge. Next beat the cream cheese, add the sugar, then the eggs, egg yolks, vanilla and finally the lemon. Make sure you beat thoroughly, but don't over do it! Put the kettle on. Take your tin out of the oven and line it multiple times with extra-strength foil before pouring the cream cheese mix over the biscuit base. Put the tin into a roasting tray and pour the boiling water into the tray around of it. You might need to boil the kettle again as the water must reach around half way up the cheesecake. Place the whole thing (roasting tray etc...) into the oven for 55 mins. whilst the cheesecake is cooking make the topping by whisking the sour cream with the sugar and vanilla extract and setting aside. When the 55 minutes are up take the tray out of the oven and pour the topping straight over the cheesecake, smooth, and then return to the oven (still in the roasting tray full of water) for another 10 mins. Remove from the oven and take the cheesecake out of the roasting tray, put it onto a cooling rack and leave to cool completely in its tin. Once cool put into the fridge, remove the tin just before you wish to present your beauty! Enjoy xxxx