Let them eat cake!

My family (and I) love cheesecake, they even get the occasional withdrawal symptom. This cheesecake is quickly becoming my signature dish mostly because I despise having to make the same thing more than once and with cheesecake you can experiment and do loads and loads of things.

The recipe I'm using is adapted from the book "Desserts", Parragon Books Ltd and it's almost impossible to mess up.

Cheesecake
(originally a manhattan cheesecake, this one I made without the crème fraiche layer)



For 8-10 portions you will need:

6 tbs butter
200 g smashed up digestive crackers
sunflower oil for the dish
400 g cream cheese
2 large eggs
140 g caster sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
4 1/2 dl crème fraiche

Melt the butter and mix it with the crumbs, spread the mixture into a dish with removable sides (if you're not using oven paper you should brush the dish with oil before pouring the crumbs in).
Whisk cheese, eggs, 100 g of the sugar and 1/2 tsp vanilla until smooth, pour it onto the crumbs and bake for approximately 20 min or until firm in the middle of the oven on 190°C.



Once it's done, take it out and let to cool for 20 min but leave the oven on. While the cake is cooling down prepare the next step by mixing the crème fraiche with the remaining sugar and vanilla. Pour the mixture onto the cake and bake for 10 min.
Let the cake cool down and put it in the fridge over night or at least for 8 hours.

When it comes to the topping you can do many things, this time I used store-bought jello (the kind you just ad water to), and I added some food-coloring to one of them to make some contrast and since Herbert is a vegetarian I also made a quick blueberry jam;



You take about 2 dl blueberries and ad as much sugar you want (depend on the sweetness of the berries) and about 1 - 1 1/2 tbs cornflower and bring it to a boil and then let it simmer until you get the consistency you want.



I have to warn you though, I find this batch a little small for 8-10 people because if you're in the mood you can probably eat the whole thing with only three partners in crime.