New York style Cheesecake

Ingredients:

Base:

• 180g digestives
• 65g melted butter

Cheesecake: 

• 1kg Polish cheesecake filling* or full-fat cream cheese e.g Philadelphia – room temp
• 200g granulated sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 15g plain flour
• 130g sour cream – room temp
• Zest from 1 orange
  
  *I use this one (not an ad), you can find it in most of the Polish shops as well as most of the large supermarkets in the UK – at least in London.

Raspberry topping (optional):

• 180g raspberries + a few for decoration
• 40g sugar
• 10g lemon juice

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 180C – no fan.
• Line the bottom of a 22cm round (spring form) tin with baking paper – I always make sure to cut a bigger piece than the bottom of the tin, so that there is some extra baking paper that just stays on the outside of the tin once I’ve put on the sides of the tin. Grease the sides of the tin with a little bit of oil, cut two strips of baking paper and stick them to the sides.
• Crush the biscuits in a food processor and add the melted butter.
• Place the biscuit mix at the bottom of the tin, even it out and make sure to press down firmly with the back of a spoon. Place in the oven and bake for about 10mins.
• Take out of the oven and let it cool while you prepare the next steps.
  
  
• Place the cheesecake filling/cream cheese (room temp) in a bowl of your stand mixer and using the paddle attachment, mix for a few minutes until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
• Add the rest of the cheesecake ingredients into the bowl and mix until combined and smooth. Should take about 1-2mins, about half way through scrape down the sides. Try to not over-beat to avoid any extra air from getting into the batter.
• Pour the cheesecake mixture into the tin, even it out, if needed and then tap it 2-3 times against the counter to help any trapped air bubbles move to the top.
• For best results, I’d recommend to bake this cheesecake using the water bath method: grab another baking tin (I use a 9in square one), fill it about half way up with with boiling water and carefully transfer – don’t forget to use oven mitts! – and place it at the very bottom of the oven.
• Place the cheesecake tin in the oven – middle shelf on the oven rack.
• Bake at 180C for the first 15mins and then reduce the temperature to 130C and bake for another 45mins. You want a slight jiggle in the middle. Note: Polish cheesecake filling is a little bit more firm than Philadelphia or other brands of cream cheese, so if you’re using the cream cheese, you may need to adjust the baking time a little and add a couple of extra minutes.
• Open the oven door for about 10-15mins. Take the cheesecake out of the oven and let it cool down for about an hour or so. Then transfer to the fridge (uncovered) and let it set there properly overnight.
  
  
• A few hours before serving prepare the raspberry topping. This step is optional, but I think it’s a great addition to this cheesecake, it adds a lovely contrast! You can also just leave the cheesecake as it is or sprinkle with icing sugar and decorate with fresh raspberries.
• Add all the raspberry jam ingredients into a small saucepan, place over a medium heat and allow to cook until you can see the raspberries starting to fall apart.
• Take off the heat and either blend using a hand-blender or mash until smooth. You can put it through the sieve to remove the seeds, I prefer to leave them in.
• Return to the hob, let everything boil, stirring from time to time until it turns into more of a jam consistency. At the end you can add in a couple of extra fresh raspberries into the jam, but you don’t have to.
• Pour into a bowl to allow it to cool down and set a little bit more before decorating your cheesecake.
  
  Happy Baking!