Under the Blue Gum tree

Another week means another Weekly Bake Off and on this occasion, the nominated recipe was Mary Berry’s American Cheesecake from her book “100 Cakes and Bakes.”

I have made quite a few cheesecakes in the course of this blog but Mary’s American Cheesecake is by far the easiest. I wish I could find the recipe online to share with you as this is a cheesecake that everyone should have in their culinary arsenal – it takes minutes to prepare but tastes divine. Sadly Mary is playing her cards close to her chest on this one and the recipe does not appear on the internet so I will just have to encourage you to pop over to Amazon and purchase a copy of “100 Cakes and Bakes” instead. (For those of you with an iPad, you can also do what I did and download the book from iTunes – it’s part of the My Kitchen Table series.)

As with the chocolate mousse and hazelnut meringue cakes, I made a portion for two by making a third of Mary’s recipe in my mini 12cm cake tin. Although, quite frankly, I kind of wished I had made the whole shebang given how delicious it was. Mary uses greek yoghurt and lots of lemon juice in her filling which makes for a very tangy and light dessert. Initially I thought the filling may be a tad too sharp but the genius is in the little bit of demerara sugar that Mary adds to the biscuit base – not only does this add a wonderful crunch but the sugary sweetness partners perfectly with the sourness of the filling. Mary recommends topping the cheesecake with fresh raspberries which are not in season here at the moment so I opted for strawberries instead. These were glazed with the suggested redcurrant jelly for a beautiful finish.

I will certainly be making this cheesecake again and experimenting with different flavours. I think a swirl of strawberry puree through the cheesecake mixture would have been delicious or a drizzle of honey and some pistachios to partner with that Greek yoghurt. The possibilities are endless………