How To Make Cheesecake

I’ve been in the process of perfecting a baked cheesecake recipe and I won’t be changing it much more after this latest version.
When I say ‘perfecting’, I mean to my personal taste…meaning a substantial, flavoursome base, New-York-type real vanilla cheesecake with some density in its texture but not too claggy (so it’s still refreshing), with an element of tartness, in this case raspberries.
My plan was to develop a gluten-free base as an option but this turned out so well I’m not saving it for necessary dietary requirements! It just proves how working within limited parameters can sometimes be a positive thing. Click on more to see the recipe…
Ingredients (for an 8″ cheesecake)
Gluten Free Base:
Ingredients:
75g Buckwheat Flour
40g Cornflour
75g Chestnut Flour
60g Light Muscavado Sugar
Pinch of Salt
100g Butter (room temperature / slightly softened)
75g Butter (melted - this is to mix with the above mixture after it’s baked)
Method:
Preheat oven to 170C/325F/Gas 3
Mix the dry ingredients together and rub in the 100g Butter until a crumbly mix forms which you could form into a ball and roll out as biscuits or pastry if you wanted to, but leave it in crumble / streusel form for this.
Spread the crumble onto a lightly greased or lined baking tray and bake for about 7 minutes before taking it out and stirring around a bit to ensure fairly even baking. Return to the oven for another 7 minutes or until the crumble is just getting crunchy without burning.
Allow the crumble to cool for at least an hour before making into the base.
To make into the cheesecake base, put the crumble into a food processor and process just enough to make an uneven ‘rubble’. Add the melted butter and process one pulse at-a-time until combined.
Line an 8″/20cm loose-bottomed sponge tin with baking parchment (or butter wrappers) so that the parchment extends an inch or so above the top (the cheesecake’s quite deep).
Press the Base mixture into the bottom of the tin.
Cheesecake Mix:
700g Medium Fat Soft Cheese (eg Philadelphia - not the reduced fat version though)
150g Soured Cream
175g Unrefined Caster Sugar
25g Cornflour
2 Eggs
1tsp Vanilla Extract
A generous handful of frozen raspberries.
Method:
Set oven at 150C/300F/Gas2.
Put the Soft Cheese, Soured Cream and Caster Sugar in a food processor and mix until smooth. Srape down the sides.
Sprinkle the Cornflour over the top of the mix and process until blended.
Add the Eggs and Vanilla and process until blended. Scrape down the sides and process for another few seconds.
Pour the mixture onto the prepared base.
Scatter some frozen Raspberries on the top.
Bake for about an hour - the cheesecake should be just set but retain a slight wobble in the centre which will firm up as it cools.