Recipes, styling and photographs by Katelyn Williams
Blueberry, white chocolate and lavender cheesecake
Ingredients
Base
- 400g digestive biscuits
- 200g butter, melted
- pinch lavender flowers + extra, to decorate
Filling
- 800g full-cream cream cheese, at room temperature
- 300g crème fraîche, at room temperature
- 180g castor sugar
- 55g cake flour
- 4 large eggs
- 200g white chocolate, melted
- 5ml (1 tsp) vanilla extract
- zest of 2 lemons
- pinch lavender flowers
- 250g frozen blueberries + extra, to decorate
Instructions
For the base, preheat the oven to 120°C. Line the bottom of a 30cm springform cake tin with baking paper and grease the sides. Wrap the outside of the tin tightly in foil to make it waterproof. Place the biscuits, butter and a pinch of lavender flowers in a food processor. Blitz until fine crumbs form. Press the crumbs into the bottom of the lined tin.
Place the cream cheese, crème fraiche, castor sugar, flour, eggs, melted chocolate, vanilla extract, lemon zest, a pinch of lavender and half of the blueberries in a food processor. Blitz until smooth, pour over the crust and sprinkle with the remaining blueberries.
Place the cake tin on a folded tea towel in a large roasting dish and fill the dish with enough hot water to cover the sides of the cake tin halfway (bainmarie). Bake until the cheesecake is just set with a slight wobble in the centre (like a set jelly), about 1 hour. Allow to cool completely in the bain-marie at room temperature, 1 hour, before removing the cake tin from the water bath. Place the cake tin in the fridge and refrigerate until set, about 2 hours.
To serve, unmould the cheesecake by running a knife, dipped in hot water, around the edges. Top with the extra blueberries and lavender flowers, to decorate.
Notes
Cook's tip: Lavender can be very potent so use it sparingly for a gentle fragrance.
