Doorstop Vanilla Cheesecake

Before I go any further: DO NOT THINK ABOUT THE CALORIES INVOLVED IN THIS CHEESECAKE. It will not only scare you into never attempting to make it and will definitely scare you out of eating any of it. Just don’t think about it. Promise?

Lorraine Pascale’s new series, Fast, Fresh and Easy Food has started on BBC2, Tuesdays at 8pm, and I’ve been hooked. The editing is beautiful, her recipes are simple to follow, and I have massive respect for someone who can run round a kitchen in a crisp white t-shirt and look immaculate (I don’t care if she changes it a billion times during filming, I’m going to pretend it’s the same one). Her enthusiasm is infectious, and having seen the first few episodes I was very keen to buy the book.

Flicking through the pages though provided a slight dilemma: where to start? Since I hadn’t made a cheesecake this summer, it only felt appropriate to give Lorraine’s Doorstop Vanilla Cheesecake a go. Be warned, this is a mammoth of a cheesecake that really deserves its own postcode.

The original recipe can be found in Lorraine’s book, Fast, Fresh and Easy Food, but I’ve put it below with the few alterations that I used when making my doorstopper!

Ingredients:
90g butter, melted
250g digestive biscuits
2 tbsp soft light brown sugar
800g full fat cream cheese
1 lemon, zest and a little juice
1 vanilla pod (or 1 tsp vanilla essence as I used)
800ml fridge-cold double cream
75g icing sugar

Method:
The digestive biscuits need to be crumbs, so either whizz them in a food processor or – as I prefer – place them in a plastic food bag and bash them to your heart’s content with a rolling pin. Let’s face it, the food processor method just isn’t as therapeutic… Add the soft light brown sugar and the butter, and mix well together. Evenly squidge the mixture into the bottom of a 23cm springform tin (that needs to be at least 8cm deep). Make sure it’s tightly packed, pressing the mixture down with the back of a spoon.

**I found that there really wasn’t enough butter, so I’d advise you to keep melting more, 25g at a time and adding it until the crumbs feel like they’d hold a shape. Do this before you put it in the tin! Otherwise, once you’re trying to cut the cheesecake the base will just crumble pathetically and look a bit rubbish!**

Place the tin in the fridge or freezer to firm up while you make the topping.

Put the cream cheese in a bowl, add the lemon zest and a few drops of juice and mix together well. Add the vanilla pod/essence and mix to loosen the topping.

In a separate bowl, pour in the double cream and sift in the icing sugar. Whisk it using a free standing electric mixer to almost the same consistency as the cream cheese, just a little looser. Tip it into the cream cheese and mix everything together with a few stirs as possible.

At this stage, you’ll need to have a cheeky taste to see if it is sweet enough for you (if not add a further 50g icing sugar), vanilla-y enough (add another ½ tsp of vanilla essence) or if you want to make it more lemony then add the zest of another lemon and a few more drops of juice.

Once you’re happy with the flavour then tip it onto the biscuit base and smooth the top with the back of a spoon or a palette knife. Cover with cling film and put in the freezer for approximately 30 minutes or until just set. It can go in the fridge instead; it’ll just take several hours to firm up.

Remove the cheesecake from the freezer about 10 minutes before you want to serve it as it’ll need to warm up slightly. Carefully take it out of the tin. This is a bit of a task and requires 3 or more hands, so grab a helper and make sure you have a palette knife to hand so you can easily rectify any mistakes and smooth all of the edges.

Serve and enjoy!

As stated previously, DON’T THINK OF THE CALORIES. If you want to be good, then serve with a handful of fruit: seasonal berries work wonderfully. Because the vanilla isn’t overpowering it works well with any flavour you want to add to it, which makes this a really versatile dessert. Personally, it could have done with being a lot sweeter and with more vanilla, so when I make this again I’ll make sure to add more icing sugar and try using a vanilla pod instead of essence.

Another point to mention is that it freezes really well. There was so much cheesecake and not enough people to eat it so I decided to cut it into portions and stick them in the freezer for later. They defrosted well and had an almost ice-cream style consistency which was particularly yummy! As a dessert I’d recommend serving a slice with a berry compote, or maybe drizzled with salted caramel?

Or if you’re feeling a little bit sinful, then just throw a slab of cheesecake on a plate and accompany with a huge mug of coffee: a little bit bad, a little bit decadent and a lot like heaven.