Lemon and Blueberry Cheesecake

A wonderful spin on my lemon cheesecake, with some blueberry compote swirled through the batter

My creamy lemon cheesecake is a firm favourite in our home. It has a rich, buttery base with a velvety smooth filling. It has just the right amount of tartness thanks to the addition of lemon juice.

This delicious lemon and blueberry cheesecake is based off that, in fact, it is the same recipe with some blueberry compote swirled through the batter. It produces a beautiful stained design in the batter, and also imparts a wonderful flavour.

I have detailed steps on how to prevent your cheesecake from cracking on my previous post for my creamy lemon cheesecake. This is purely an aesthetic issue and does not affect the taste of the cheesecake at all. What is more, I always add some whipping cream on the top to add some lightness, so it camouflages some imperfections anyway 🙂

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BLUEBERRY COMPOTE

• 250g fresh blueberries
• 75g caster sugar
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice

METHOD

1. This can be made in advance and stored in the fridge.
2. Place the blueberries, caster sugar and lemon juice on medium heat, until the sugar has dissolved, the blueberries start to soften and the colour begins to run and all the ingredients come together. Place in the freezer to cool whilst you make the cheesecake.

CHEESECAKE CRUST

• 200g Digestive Biscuits
• 80g butter, melted
• zest of a lemon

METHOD

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celcius. Grease and line the bottom of a 23cm springform pan with baking paper. Wrap the outside of the tin with foil as the cheesecake will be baked in a waterbath.
2. Place the biscuits in a large Ziploc bag and crush with a rolling pin.
3. Pour in the melted butter and shake to combine – no dishes!
4. Tip the mixture into your tin and press it down firmly and evenly. Use the base of a flat bottomed glass if you want to level it out.
5. Bake the base for around 10 minutes until just firm and set. Then set aside to cool as you make the filling.

LEMON CHEESECAKE

• 1 kg full fat cream cheese, room temperature
• 280g castor sugar
• 160g sour cream
• 160ml whipping cream, unwhipped
• 1 tsp vanilla essence (clear is best, otherwise it tints the cheesecake slightly)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 Tablespoon lemon zest
• 60ml lemon juice, freshly squeezed
• 4 large eggs, room temperature

METHOD

1. Reduce the oven to 160 degrees Celcius, and move the oven rack from the middle of the oven to the last rack. I find that baking the cheesecake on a lower shelf helps it from cracking.
2. Put a full kettle of water on to boil, for the water bath. (This step is not essential. I found that it does not affect the texture of the cheesecake but prevents it from cracking).
3. Add the cream cheese to your mixer and beat until smooth. It is important not to overbeat.
4. Then add in the sugar and continue to beat.
5. Add in the vanilla and sour cream. Again, the aim here is to just incorporate, you do not want to incorporate more air in the batter (like you would do for cake).
6. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until just mixed in. If you over beat the eggs, the cheesecake will souffle – rising initially, but will then collapse.
7. Follow this with the whipping cream
8. Finally follow this by the lemon zest and lemon juice.
9. Pour half of the filling the filling into the tin with the crust. Then swirl half of the blueberry compote into the batter. Then add the remaining cheesecake batter and finally the second half of the blueberry compote. Place the cake tin in a large roasting pan and fill with boiling water until the water comes up halfway. (Again, the water bath is not essential, but will help with a crack free cheesecake).
10. Bake in the oven for around 65 – 75min. It may sometimes need a bit longer, but begin monitoring it from 60 minutes. If the cheesecake is getting too brown on the top, just place a piece of foil over it.
11. The cheesecake is cooked when you knock the side of the tin with a wooden spoon. The center should still jiggle a bit but the sides will be set. The filling should not slosh around in the tin and feel liquid.
12. Once the cheesecake is set, turn off the oven and leave the door slightly ajar to let the cheesecake reduce gradually in temperature.
13. After an hour remove, and let cool to room temperature, before setting in the fridge to chill overnight, or for at least 8 hours.
14. Release the cheesecake from the springform pan and top with whipped cream and decorate as you please. Swirling some lemon curd through the whipped cream is always nice.

WHIPPED CREAM

• 250ml whipping cream
• 1 Tbs icing sugar

METHOD

1. Whip the cream until soft waves form.
2. Then sift in the icing sugar.
3. Continue to whip until stiff peaks form, being careful not to over whip.
4. Spread the whipped cream over the top of the cooled cheesecake and decorate with fresh fruit, serve with a coulis, or just enjoy as is.

Recipe by adventureswithsugar.com