Marbled Lemon Cheesecake

Freshness for the fresh new beginnings !!!! Welcome 2013.

My mother in law makes a Lemon Biscuit Pudding which KJ completely loves and has been wanting me to try it out for a while, however I've never gotten around making it.
While blog hopping the other day, I came across this amazing recipe for a Lemon Marble Cheesecake. It caught my fancy and made it to the top of my 'To Try' list....
Unlike my other cheesecakes, this one is a baked one. It turned out to be light, beautiful and refreshingly delicious.
Luckily so, only 2 days before I came across this wonderful recipe, I had made Lemon Curds at home to try out Lemon Tarts, but the cheesecake took the cake !! :)
Before I could say 'Baked Lemon Marble Cheesecake', the cheesecake was gone.....The family loved it and many more can't wait for the next batch to turn up.....
It's a winner for all seasons !!

Hope you enjoy making this as much as I did....

Marbled Lemon Cheesecake

Adapted from: www.foodess.com

Ingredients:

For the base:

1 1/3 cups crushed graham cracker crumbs (I used my regular base  - a mix of goodday and marie biscuits)

1/3 cup sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt (I omitted this because i used salted butter)

5 tablespoons melted butter

For filling:

3 (8-oz) packages cream cheese, softened - (About 230 g. I used homemade cream cheese).

3/4 cup sugar

3 large eggs

3/4 cup sour cream (I used Amul Cream. Since there is enough tartness in the lemon curds, regular cream would balance it out)

1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

For the base: 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F or 180 degrees C. 

Stir together the crushed biscuits and melted butter. Press into a 9-inch springform pan. Bake for 10 minutes; cool on wire rack.

For the Cheesecake: 

1. Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees F or 150 degree C. 

2. In the large bowl of a standing mixer, beat together cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy. 

3. Reduce speed to low and beat in eggs, one at a time, until incorporated. Beat in cream and vanilla.

4. Pour two-thirds of the cheesecake batter onto the base, and top with half of the lemon curd. Swirl gently with a knife. Top with remaining cheesecake batter and lemon curd, and repeat swirling. 

5. Bake in centre of oven for 45-55 minutes, until set (centre may still jiggle a bit, it will firm up). 

6. Cool completely before serving.

Recipe : Fresh Lemon Curd

Adapted from www.whatsforlunchhoney.net/

Ingredients

4 Lemon, zest and juice

110g unsalted butter, cut into pieces

4 eggs, beaten

450g fine granulated sugar

Direction:

1. Set a fine strainer over a medium bowl, then set aside. 

2. In a medium sized saucepan whisk together the grated lemon zest and juice, sugar and eggs until incorporated and the sugar has dissolved.

3. Place the saucepan over medium heat and gently cook the mixture, stirring with a wooden spoon, until steaming. Make sure the curd does not boil. Stir frequently and continue to cook until the curd has thickened and the curd coats the back of the wooden spoon - approx 3-7 minutes.

4. Take the curd off the heat and then add the butter, stirring to incorporate it to the curd. Pour the curd mixture through the prepared strainer to make sure there are no lumps in the lemon curd.

5.  Pour into warm sterile jars , cover and seal. Allow to come to room temperature, then refrigerate.

Happy Baking !!