London cheesecake

Classic London cheesecake, on digestive biscuit base, baked in a hot-water bath, which makes it even more creamy.  Looks very elegant and is a prefect dinner party dessert. Absolutely delicious!

Read 'How to make a perfect cheesecake?' in my baking tips HERE.

Ingredients:

For the base:

• 150g digestive biscuits
• 75g unsalted butter

For the cheese mixture:

• 600g cream cheese
• 150g caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• 3 egg yolks
• 2 tsp vanilla paste or vanilla pod
• 1tbsp lemon juice

For the topping:

• 145ml sour cream
• 1tbsp icing sugar
• 1/2tsp vanilla paste or extract

Crush the biscuits and mix with melted butter, press into a 20cm spring form and place in the fridge.

Pre-heat the oven to 180C.

Mix cream cheese and sugar with an electric mixer (you have to make sure the mixture is very smooth).  Add eggs, egg yolks, lemon juice and vanilla- mix well.

Wrap the outside (bottom and sides) of the tin with kitchen foil (make sure you do it well), then pour the cheese mixture onto the biscuit base.  

Place the tin in a large heat-proof dish and fill it up with boiling water, ensure no water gets into the tin. Cover the cheese cake with kitchen foil, to make sure it stays white while baking. The foil shouldn't touch the top of cheese mixture.  

Place in the oven and bake for about 1 hour, until the top of the cheesecake is firm but still has a slight wobble in the centre. 

Mix the sour cream with icing sugar and vanilla and take the foil off the top of the cheesecake, spread sour cream mixture on top and bake for further 10 minutes.

Take out the oven and remove the foil from the bottom and sides of the tin, leave to cool completely, then place in the fridge for minimum 3 hours or best over night.

Enjoy!

Recipe by Nigella Lawson