Lemon Cheesecake with Lemon Curd

My love affair with lemons continues with this Lemon Cheesecake. And as if I did not get enough of lemons, I decided to make Lemon Curd for topping.

You wouldn't believe that this is the first time that I am eating Lemon Cheesecake. Honestly, I did not think that Lemon Cheesecake is anything appealing. I wonder why. Maybe it was because I did not have a good experience with lemon cream biscuits. Or maybe it was because I associated lemons with cleaning products.

But after baking and tasting this Canadian Lemon Pound Cake, my perception of lemony bakes has changed entirely. I am now lemon crazy. Since I have a few lemons in the fridge, it was time for me to attempt a lemon cheesecake.

The basic cheesecake recipe is taken from Allan Bakes Really Good Cheesecakes, with some modifications. I did not follow the cheesecake base recipe and instead opted for the usual Digestive Biscuits. Allan's cheesecake base uses 250g of butter and with the rising prices of good butter (Golden Churn is now RM12.50 per 250g block ), I would prefer to use it for butter cakes instead.

I went to town with the extra Lemon Curd.

A word about the Lemon Curd. I first spotted the recipe at Joyce's blog and then at Cik Manggis recently. I noted that Joyce's recipe uses less sugar but more butter compared to Cik Manggis'. So I opted for Joyce's recipe.

Call me ulu, but in spite of being a butterholic when it comes to cakes, I found the smell of butter too strong in the lemon curd. It tasted very strong too. Joyce's recipe calls for 6 tablespoons (85g) of butter as opposed to Cik Manggis' which uses only 2 tablespoons. Even then, I had reduced the butter to 60g.

Embarrassing as it is, I admit that I added 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract and zest of one lemon to the curd to reduce the smell of butter and essentially murdering the recipe. Joyce, please don't faint hah...hah... There is nothing wrong with your recipe, it is just me. The lemon curd turned out alright and I liked the taste.  In future I will just reduce the amount of butter.

I made the lemon curd as the cake was cooling. Once the lemon curd was cool enough, I placed it in the fridge to firm up. When the cheesecake was completely cool, I spread a layer of the chilled lemon curd on top and it looked rather pretty. The cake was chilled overnight and I had a taste the next morning.

Wow! It was so good. Sweet and tangy and lemony. Definitely a new favourite cheesecake which I will bake again when I can get nice fresh lemons. If you love lemons and cheesecakes, this may be a favourite of yours too.

As for the lemon curd, I had some leftovers even after applying more lemon curd to the topping. And guess what? I had it for dessert 3 days later hee..hee...hee...

Lemon Cheesecake with Lemon Curd
Recipe source : Adapted from Allan Bakes Really Good Cheesecakes (page 32)
(Makes one 8" cake)

Ingredients :

For the base :
- 200g Digestive Biscuits, finely crushed
- 75g butter, melted

For the filling :
- 500g cream cheese
- 150ml sour cream
- 180g caster sugar
- 120ml milk
- 3 eggs
- 2 tbsp custard powder
- 1 tbsp Vanilla Extract
- Zest from two lemons (my lemons were small)
- Juice from 1 lemon

Method :

For the base :
1. Grease an 8" springform pan and wrap in heavy duty aluminium foil. Set aside.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine the crushed Digestive Biscuits with melted butter until evenly mixed.
3. Pour the mixture into the cake pan and use your fingers to press the mixture firmly over the base of the pan and going up the sides.
4. Bake the base for 10 minutes at 160C (or you can just opt to chill in the fridge to set) and set aside to cool.

For the filling :
1. Beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth.
2. Add milk, lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla extract.
3. Add sour cream and mix well.
4. Add eggs one by one, beating well between additions.
5. Lastly add custard powder and mix well.
6. Pour filling into the cake pan and bake in a water bath at 140C for about 1 hour or until the outer ring is firm and the middle is still wobbly.
7. Leave the cake in the oven to cool for 30 minutes.
8. Remove from the oven and cool completely.
9. Spread Lemon Curd (recipe below) on top of the cake and chill the cake overnight in the fridge.

Note : I had buttered the sides of the pan quite generously and did not have to run a spatula around the sides to release the cake.

Lemon Curd
Recipe source : Kitchen Flavours
Note : This recipe makes 1 cup of lemon curd and there were extras after I used it as topping for the cake.

Ingredients :
- 1/2 cup (125ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1/3 cup (65gm) sugar (or 1/2 cup, 100gm, if using regular lemons)(I used 100g)
- 2 large egg yolks
- 2 large eggs
- pinch of salt (I omitted)
- 6 tbsp (85gm) unsalted butter, cubed (I will reduce to 2 tbsp in future)

Method :
1. Place a mesh strainer over a bowl, and set aside.
2. In a medium saucepan, whisk together the lemon juice, sugar, egg yolks, eggs and salt.
3. Add the butter cubes and set the pan over low heat, whisking constantly until the butter is melted.
4. Increase the heat and cook over moderate heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture thickens and just begins to become jelly-like. It's done when you lift the whisk and the mixture holds its shape when it falls back into the saucepan from the whisk.
5. Immediately press the curd through the strainer. Once strained, store the lemon curd in the refrigerator. It will keep for up to one week.

This post is linked to Cook-Your-Books #16 hosted by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours.