Yesterday’s cake spread at work!  

Just with salads vs. soups I must say that this time of year anything fresh wins over heavy.   And this cheesecake is indeed fresh with the tangy lime juice and slight sourness from the cream cheese. Admittedly it contains heavy ingredients but the result is a light, yet very creamy, cheesecake. 

I kept the base thin too, as it only serves as a mere ‘resting place’ to the cake; it doesn’t need the biscuit base to cut through the sweetness, because the citrus is doing that on its own.

 

I found the recipe at the ever wonderfully Smitten Kitchen and actually followed it exactly, with some minor adjustments when converting the measurements and the fact that I made one large cake instead of mini ones. And I omitted the mango.

OK, I almost followed it. And it turned out really well.

Key lime cheesecake, serves 8-10

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen’s recipe.

Base:
140 g digestives
55 g butter, melted

Filling:
450 g full-fat Philadelphia 
250 g caster sugar
175 ml freshly squeezed lime juice
120 ml sourcream
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 tbsp plain flour
1/4 tsp salt
3 eggs

To decorate:

200 ml whipping cream

3 lime slices

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Mix the biscuits into crumbs in a food processor. Add the melted butter and mix until it resembles wet sand. Press onto the base of a 20-22 cm springform. Bake the base for 8 minutes, then leave to cool. 

Lower the oven temperature to 140C. 

Beat the Philadelphia fluffy with an electric mixer, then add the sugar. Incorporate lime juice, sourcream and vanilla. Then add flour and salt and then all the eggs at once. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix thoroughly. Pour the batter into the cake tin and bake in the oven (preferably in a bain marie but it works without as well, just watch it closely) until the cake has just set and is still wobbly in the middle. About 1 hour in a bain marie, about 30 minutes withour. Leave to cool and refrigerate over night.

Before serving, whip the cream and spread on top of the cool cheesecake (this also covers any cracks) and place the lime slices on top. Keeps in the fridge for 2-3 days.