Ingredients

Serves 4-6

Base:
250g plain sweet or chocolate biscuits
125g unsalted butter, melted

Filling:
375g fresh raspberries (about 3punnets)
150g pure icing sugar
600g cream cheese
1 tin (400g) condensed milk
300ml thickened cream
8 gelatine leaves

 

Method

For the base: Place the biscuits in a food processor and blitz to form fine crumbs, add the melted butter and pulse until the butter is combined.
Scrape into a 20cm diameter spring form cake tin.
With the back of a spoon, press into the base of the tin and ¼ up the sides.
Place in the fridge.

For the filling: Place the raspberries in a bowl and sprinkle with icing sugar, set aside for five minutes.
Place in the food processor and blitz for 30 seconds then with a plastic spatula scrape puree into a sieve and press all the pulp out of the berries.
Do not wash the food processor bowl; add the cream cheese, condensed milk and cream. Blitz until smooth.
Pour into a bowl then add all but half a cup of the raspberry sauce and mix through.
Place the leaf gelatine in plenty of cold water to soften (about 5minutes).
In a small pan heat the remaining half cup of raspberry sauce, when simmering add the squeezed gelatine, remove from the heat and stir with the spatula until the gelatine has dissolved.
Add a cup of the cheese cake mixture to the gelatine mix, combine thoroughly then pour the small mix into the main cheesecake mixture and stir until evenly combined.
Pour into the chilled base. Set for 6 hours or overnight.
Run a small knife under hot water and run the knife around the inside of the cake tin. Release the spring form tin.

Cut serves with a larger knife also dipped in hot water.
Serve on its own or with raspberry sauce (see below) and whipped cream.

 
Raspberry Sauce
Makes about 1½ cups

225g / 1punnet fresh raspberries
100g pure icing sugar
Lemon juice to taste

Place the raspberries in a bowl and coat with the icing sugar, cover with cling wrap and stand at room temperature for 1 hour to allow the sugar to begin drawing out the juices from the raspberries.
Place the mix in a food processor and puree briefly. Pour into a sieve to remove the seeds. Taste the sauce and add a squeeze of lemon juice to round out the flavour. Place the sauce in a container and refrigerate until required.


 

Hints and Tips
If using powdered gelatine use 5 tablespoons sprinkled over the ½ cup hot raspberry sauce, when dissolved continue as per the method above.

For a lighter texture, semi whip the cream to soft peaks and keep until last, folding into the cheesecake mix once the gelatine/raspberry mix is thoroughly combined into the main mixture.

Garnish this cheesecake with fresh raspberries, or if out of season, use the same quantity of frozen raspberries.

For a simple flavour, omit the raspberry puree altogether and use 100ml lemon juice, 1tablespoon vanilla extract and the zest of 2 lemons. Dissolve the gelatine in the heated lemon juice. Place the lemon zest in a sieve and pour boiling water over the zest to remove the bitterness. Add some of the cheesecake mix to the lemon juice/gelatine, then pour back into main mixture.

A simpler cheesecake again with no gelatine is:
200g cream cheese (softened). Beat in a mixer until light and fluffy. Slowly add 1 tin condensed milk (to avoid lumps) and 120ml lemon juice. Pour this mixture into the prepared base and set overnight. This recipe is much softer and reminds me of how my grandmother makes a cold set cheesecake. Serve with whipped cream.