I follow the food articles on The Guardian in search of inspiration for when I need something different. Most of the times the recipes are not People-friendly and require way too many odd (expensive) ingredients or are a full time job. There however times when something hits the sweet spot (pun intended) and this cheesecake with Feta is a case in point.
For this recipe I had to do very few minor changes, mostly due to the fact that I don’t own a 20 cm cake form, but rather a 25 cm, so the ingredients for the filling were scaled up by a 1/3, with one exception: sugar. The original recipe is quite generous with the sugar, 160g, whereas half of that is enough for me. My recommendation is that, if following the original recipe, you start with half of the sugar, and taste the filling adjusting if needed, before adding it to the crust.
Another change, this time by complete accident but turned out to add even more flavor, was that I added the lemon juice to the filling by accident - it should have been only the zest. This mistake paid off though. Also, I did not have black sesame seeds (who does?) so I used normal sesame seeds.
Since the amount of filling was increased in my version, time in the oven was also extended by about 5-10 minutes. Check the cake after 40 minutes and if not slightly brown on the top, extend the time as needed.
Things to try
- replace sugar with honey
- replace digestive biscuits crust with an almond flour based one
Source
All credits go to Faye Cooke and The Guardian.
So here are my changes to the recipe, though if you stick to the original you won’t go wrong.
- Servings: 8-10
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Cooking Time: 45 mins
- Total Time: 75 mins
Ingredients
- Digestive biscuits: 150g, crushed
- Salt: a pinch
- Sesame seeds: 1 1/2 tablespoon
- Butter: 50 grams, melted
- Feta: 300 grams
- Cream cheese: 400 grams
- Eggs: 3
- Zest of 1 lemon
- Caster sugar: 80 grams
- Peaches: 2
- Raspberries: 100 grams, frozen
- Lemon juice: 2 tablespoons
- Honey: 1 tablespoons
- Unsalted butter: 20g
- Thyme: 1 sprig, leaves picked
Directions
- Line a 20cm springform cake tin with greaseproof paper. Put the biscuit crumbs into a bowl with the salt and sesame seeds and mix in the melted butter until well combined. Press the mixture into the bottom of the cake tin, evening out with the back of a spoon, and put in the fridge while you prepare the filling.
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. In a mixing bowl, break down the feta using a fork. Whisk in the cream cheese, eggs, lemon zest, one tablespoon of lemon juice and the sugar. Put the tin on a baking sheet, pour the filling on to the crust and give it a tap to even it out. Bake in the middle of the oven for 40 minutes, or until almost set.
- Meanwhile, dice the peaches and put the pieces in a roasting tray with the raspberries, lemon juice and the honey. Flake over the unsalted butter, cover with foil and set aside. When the cheesecake has 15 minutes left, put the roasting tin on the bottom shelf of the oven.
- Remove the cheesecake and fruit from the oven. Let them cool slightly. Carefully transfer the cheesecake to a plate. Lift the fruit from its juice and spoon on top of the cheesecake. Pour over 1 tbsp the juice, then chill the rest.
- Scatter over the thyme leaves. Serve with the reserved juice from the fruits.