Dreamy Vanilla-Almond Baked Cheesecake

I’ve always loved dessert – it’s my favourite meal of the day J.  From the day I met my (now) husband, I have been experimenting with cheesecake recipes.  My father-in-law loves cheesecake, especially strawberry flavoured cheesecake, and my dad loves Baileys in his.
I'd always made cheesecake with gelatine, finding the flavours fresher, but on my first visit to New York I had to admit that the baked cheesecake was to die for.

It was something that my husband bitterly disagreed with me about.  He found the texture of the baked variety to be too dry and crumbly – a little like cottage cheese only drier.

That was it, I had to convince him that I could bake a cheesecake as creamy as the refrigerated variety.

I hunted high and low for recipes, looking online and going through all of my recipe books at home.
In the end, I decided on a slightly altered mash-up of three recipes - taking inspiration from Nigella Lawson's recipe for the filling, altering Lorraine Pascale’s Shortbread Recipe and using some of the principles from Avoca.

The result was delicious – even my husband was converted!

We’ve just moved to Denmark and I was worried that I was going to have to compromise on some ingredients, however, my in laws were coming for a visit and I had them package up some Avonmore Cooking Cream to use in my baking.  The positives of this were twofold - my father in law got to enjoy his favourite dessert and I made sure that I had the best quality products in my baking.

I started by making the shortbread from Lorraine, however, I made some slight additions and used all Plain Flour rather than some Rice Flour.  The link to the Shortbread recipe is here -http://fionaobrien7.blogspot.dk/2014/01/snowy-days-in-copenhagen.html - the recipe makes approximately 350g of Shortbread so there is plenty for the base (225g) and also to enjoy a piece with coffee J

I then went about making the filling.  On first attempt, I found the outer edges of the filling to have the dry, crumbly texture.  However, the centre was AMAZING! I decided to remake and to lower the temperature, cooking for slightly longer to achieve the creaminess throughout.  It was a resounding success!

Here's how I did it - 

Filling

800g Cream Cheese at room temperature

6 Eggs

145ml Avonmore Cooking Cream

1 tbsp Vanilla Paste

150g Golden Caster Sugar

100g Dark Chocolate, Chopped (Optional)

Base

225g Almond Shortbread http://fionaobrien7.blogspot.dk/2014/01/snowy-days-in-copenhagen.html

25g Melted Butter (Using homemade shortbread means less butter is needed)

Tin
7" Loose Bottomed Tin lined with reusable lining paper
Cover the tin in a double layer of grease-proof paper and tie with twine

Temperature
140C/ Gas Mark 1/ 275F for 1 hour

Method
Melt the butter and mix with the crushed shortbread.

Press into a lined, loose bottomed 7” Tin and put into the fridge to firm up.

Mix the ingredients for the filling together with beaters and pour onto the base.  Covering the tin with a double layer of greaseproof paper further protects the filling from drying out.

Bake in a preheated oven at 140 C for 1 hour.

Turn the heat off in the oven and leave the cheesecake to cool overnight before refrigerating.
This part is important to ensure the creamy texture.  I find it best to prepare the filling in advance, leaving it in the fridge until everyone is finished using the kitchen and only cooking it last thing at night before switching the oven off.  The cheesecake is then ready the next morning!  Great for entertaining as you have time to clean up before the guests arrive the next day :) 

Dust with icing sugar and decorate with chocolate curls.

Enjoy.....

The texture is so creamy that no additional cream is necessary for serving, however, Avonmore Dessert Cream would be a welcome addition!!