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Food

26th Mar 2019

This easy-to-make lavender cheesecake looks honestly too pretty to eat

YUM!

Denise Curtin

Thinking of dusting off the apron?

Well then we have the most dreamy cake for you to whip up! To be honest, this cake looks so beautiful, we kinda think it would be a shame to do anything but photograph it, but that is just us trying to live our best “Instagram lives”.

Not only does this cheesecake feature a heap of delish ingredients, but it is also the perfect SS19 dish and we can already imagine serving it at a tea party out on the back lawn with PLENTY of prosecco, of course.

An easy one to whip up, here are all the deets on making this one yourself!

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
  • Violet food colouring

INSTRUCTIONS

1. 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.
2. Place the cream cheese, a few drops of violet food colouring, crème fraiche, castor sugar, flour, eggs, melted chocolate, vanilla extract, lemon zest and a pinch of lavender in a food processor. Blitz until smooth and pour over the crust.
3. 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 (bain-marie). 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 at room temperature, 1 hour. Place the cake tin in the fridge and refrigerate until set, about 2 hours.
4. To serve, unmould the cheesecake by running a knife, dipped in hot water, around the edges. Top with some roll out icing (if you wish) and lavender flowers, to decorate.