by Fiona posted Sat 2nd Apr '11

Method

225g (8oz) plain digestive biscuits
75g (3oz) butter, melted
500g (1lb) medium-fat curd cheese
225g (8oz) full-fat soft cheese
4 eggs, size 3
225g (8oz) caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
300ml (1/2 pt) soured cream
fruit to serve

Heat the oven to 350F,180C or Gas 4.

☆Crush the biscuits and mix thoroughly with the melted butter. Press into a 7" (18cm) diameter spring-form cake tin to form a base crust.

☆Mix all the remaining ingredients except the soured cream, beating until smooth and well blended. Spoon it in to the prepared tin and bake for 25 minutes

☆Turn off the heat and leave the cheesecake to cool in the oven with the door ajar. Don't worry if the top has a few cracks on it.

☆When cooled, spoon the soured cream over the top. Set the oven at 400F (200C), gas 6, and return the cake for ten minutes to bake and set the top

☆Cool and chill overnight

☆Decorate with fruit to serve

Background

In the early 80's I subscribed to the Creative Cook magazine and this is one of the recipes from it that I've used over and over. I hadn't cooked it for a while, so it was nice to be able to revive it for some of the Garden's events. The recipe calls for curd cheese, which doesn't seem to be quite so easy to find nowadays so I use ricotta as a substitute - though the cheesecake will have a much looser consistency.