Blueberry, Lemon and Ginger Cheesecake

Man, I love the colour of this dessert! Say hello to my Blueberry, Lemon and Ginger Cheesecake made with love, plump blueberries, whipped cream, condensed milk, cream cheese, lemon and ginger.

I have partnered up with the folk from Checkers and Cat (who is super talented and awesome) from Lefamshiedcat to bring you a 3-part ‘Naughty and Nice’ series, where we will be making a naughty version of a dish as well as a nice one, i.e. a slightly healthier version.

So if you’re like me and eat anything and everything 🙂 I have you covered, but if have, say an aversion to dairy or gluten or perhaps you’re Vegan, then Cat will be sharing a very similar dish, but made with slightly different ingredients. All these sorts of alternative ingredients, as well as all your favourites and more, can be found at Checkers.

To kick this series off I thought I’d start with this super delicious Blueberry, Lemon and Ginger Cheesecake with homemade blueberry sauce. It’s a no-bake cheesecake, which means that it’s simple, fast and doesn’t require a water bath, a slow bake or the stress of it flopping right at the very bitter end. This has happened to me before and I landed up putting my entire fist through it. This is not a lie. It was actually strangely satisfying to do. I hated that cake.

This cheesecake is smooth, creamy, sweet and tart and has fast become a favourite dessert in my books. It’s made with a homemade blueberry sauce, which not only turns this dessert into an extravagancer for the mouth but for the eyes too.

If you hop on over to Cat’s blog you will find her version of this cake, which is a 3-Layered Vegan Blueberry Cheesecake, which comes with creamy cashew layers & a coconut and almond gluten-free base. How super good does that sound?!

INGRIDIENTS FOR THE HOMEMADE BLUEBERRY SAUCE:

· 1 1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

· 35 grams / 8 teaspoons white granulated sugar

· 3 tablespoons hot water

· 1 teaspoon lemon juice

· 1 tablespoon of cold water

· 1 tablespoon cornstarch

· 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

· A pinch of salt

DIRECTIONS:

1. Place the blueberries, sugar, hot water and lemon juice in a saucepan.
2. Then cook over a medium heat for about 10 minutes, until the blueberries start to break down. Make sure you stir the mixture often to help with the process.
3. In a teacup mix together the cold water and cornstarch. Add the mixture to the blueberries in the pot and cook everything for about 45 seconds, make sure you’re stirring the whole time. It should thicken pretty quickly.
4. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla essence and salt.
5. Pour your blueberry sauce into a small bowl and place it in the fridge to cool.

INGREDIENTS FOR THE CHEESECAKE:

· 1 x packet of ginger biscuits

· 100 grams butter

· 1 x 250 mls whipping (normal cream that you can whip) cream

· 1 x  tin of condensed milk

· 1 x tub of medium-fat cream cheese (NEEDS to be at room temperature)

· 2 x lemons (this step will depend on how tart you like your desserts and how big the lemons are)

· Blueberries, strawberries and pomagranites for decoration. You don’t have to get them all, just pick and choose as you see fit 🙂

DIRECTIONS:

1. Prepare a ±23 cm (you can use a slightly smaller one, will make the cake higher which is also great) springform pan by adding a round of baking paper to the bottom of it.
2. Using a food processor blitz the ginger biscuits until nice and fine. Or place the biscuits in a large sealed ziplock bag (make sure you remove all the air before sealing it) and crush them by rolling over the bag with a rolling pin or wine bottle.
3. Melt the butter in a microwave or in a small pot.
4. In a medium-sized bowl add your crumbs and melted butter and stir until they are nicely mixed.
5. Pour this mixture into your springform pan and press it down firmly to form a compact layer, which is the base of your cheesecake. Pop it into the fridge while you work your way through the rest of the recipe. You don’t want the base to be warm when you put your cheesecake mixture on top of it.
6. Add the whipping cream to a large bowl then beat it with an electric handheld mixer until soft peaks form.
7.  Add your room temperature cream cheese and continue to beat until mixed, don’t overbeat it!
8. Add the condensed milk and one lemon to start with and beat until the mixture and is nice and smooth, the consistency should be fairly thick which means it won’t need too much time to set.
9. Give it a taste, if you feel like it needs more lemon, add more lemon. I usually use 2 normal sized lemons, but if the lemons are a bit on the big side of life, use one. The citrus flavour helps cut through the sweetness and adds something really special to it, so make sure you get this balance right. Give it one final mix with your electric beater.
10. Divide your cheesecake mixture in half and into two different bowls. Take about 3/4 of your cooled blueberry sauce and add it to one half of the mixture. Stir it in gently using a spatula. The colour is amazing.
11. Pour the lemon version of the mixture on top of the biscuit layer, spread it out evenly using a spatula or the back of a big spoon. Then gently spoon your blueberry cheesecake mixture on top of that layer and spread it out forming a third layer.
12. Pop it into the fridge for a good few hours or overnight, if you are in a hurry to serve it, place it in the freezer for 2 or so hours. Take it out about 15 minutes before you want to serve it.
13. Slice up some strawberries and pop them, some blueberries and a sprinkle of pomegranates on the top of your cake just before you serve it.
14. Enjoy! And try not to get up in the middle of the night to steal a mouthful that is IF THERE is any leftover.