Rick Stein’s baked lemon cheesecake with summer berry compote

This cheesecake has to be the most delicious I have ever made.  I would recommend cooking it the day before and chilling it – the flavour improves with time.

Rick Stein’s French Odyssey has some superb recipes in there.  Some of which make ideal mid-week meals, which to those tucking in may seem a little fancy, but to you in the kitchen you know how simple they are to put together.  I will post a few, as there are not many of Rick’s recipes on the net – probably for a reason, so I hope I won’t get in trouble.  But I think there are a few that every housewife should have up her sleeve to impress or to simply make her life a little easier and tastier!

So, here’s the recipe, for a perfect dinner party pudding.  Yum!

For the base

• 100g butter, plus extra for greasing
• 200g digestive biscuits
• 2tbsp caster or demerara sugar

For the filling

• 500g full-fat cream cheese
• 200g caster sugar
• 3 medium eggs
• 2tbsp cornflour
• 300ml creme fraiche
• Finely grated zest of 1 lemon and 3tbsp juice

For the summer berry compote

• 500g mixed summer berries (strawberries, raspberries and blueberries) – I used frozen as they’re cheaper and you can buy large bags for future use!
• 50g caster sugar
• Finely grated zest of half an orange

Icing Sugar to serve

Method

1. Lightly butter a 20-cm clip sided tin and base line with a piece of non-stick baking paper or buttered greaseproof paper
2. Preheat the oven to 150c/140c fan/Gas Mark 2
3. Melt the butter in a pan over a low heat.  Crush the biscuits into crumbs in a plastic bag, add to the butter along with the sugar and mix together well.  Tip into the tin, level out and press onto the base in an even layer with the back of a spoon.  Set aside.
4. Beat the cream cheese and sugar together in a bowl until smooth.  Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat well between each addition.  Add the cornflour, creme fraiche, lemon zest and juice and beat once more.
5. Pour the mixture onto th base and bake in the centre of the oven for 50 minutes to 1 hour, or until just set but with still a slight wobble in the centre.   Now turn off the oven, but leave the cheesecake inside, and let it go cold.
6. For the summer compote, put 100g of the fruit, sugar and orange zest in to a bowl and crush with the back of a fork into a puree.  Rub through a sieve into a clean bowl and stir in the remaining berries.  Chill until you’re ready to serve.
7. To serve, carefully remove the cheesecake from its tin- you might need to run a round bladed knife around the edge first – and transfer tit to a serving plate.
8. Dust the top with a little icing sugar and serve, cut into wedges, with summer berry compote.