Whipped “almost no-bake” cheesecake with blueberry and lemon
Serves 12-14
Ingredients:
Digestive biscuit crust
300g digestive biscuits (1 packet)
190g melted butter
75g brown sugar
½ tsp. fine sea salt
Cream cheese filling
250g (1 brick) room temp Philadelphia cream cheese
250g mascarpone
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
600ml thickened cream
200g icing sugar
pinch salt
Blueberry compote:
700g frozen or fresh blueberries
90ml lemon juice
Zest of 2 lemons
120g Caster Sugar
pinch of salt
*28cm springform pan needed
Method
Preheat oven to 170C conventional (150C fan-forced).
Add digestive biscuits to a food processor and blitz until they form a fine powder. Empty this into a mixing bowl and add in the melted butter, salt and brown sugar and mix to evenly distribute. Press into springform pan on the base and sides to a thickness of about 4-5mm on the base and up the sides, to the top edge of the pan. (Later, when you add the filling, the crust will come up past it, this is correct.) Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.
Add cream cheese, mascarpone, vanilla and pinch of salt to a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Whip on high speed until evenly combined, about 1-2 minutes. Stop the machine to scrape down the sides, as needed, so it blends evenly.
Scoop this cream cheese mixture out of the mixer and into another bowl. No need to clean to mixer just add in the cream and sieved icing sugar. Switch to a whip attachment and whip until soft peaks form. Combine the whipped cream and the cream cheese mixture by hand using a stiff spoon or spatula. Pour all this mixture into cooled crust. Spread to the edges and smooth out the top the best you can. Cover loosely and allow to set in the fridge overnight. Just before serving, insert a small knife in between the springform pan edge and the digestive crust sides. Keeping your knife flat against the edge of the tin, scrape it around the edge to seperate the crust from the tin. Pop open the tin and remove the outer ring.
For the blueberry compote, combine the blueberries, sugar, pinch of salt, lemon zest and juice in a medium sized pot over medium heat until it comes to a simmer. Simmer until it becomes a dark and syrupy sauce, about 10 minutes. You can break down some of the blueberries with the back of a fork to make more of a sauce. Set aside to cool. This can be done a day or two in advance and refrigerated. Pour over the top of the cheesecake when cold. Slice and serve.
