Cheesecake with plum sauce

Ingredients:

  • 110g walnuts
  • 375g digestive biscuits
  • 40g sugar
  • 30g flour
  • 0.75 teaspoon salt
  • 170g butter
  • 875g cream cheese (Philadelphia or similar)
  • 250g fresh goat cheese
  • 240g sugar
  • 30g corn starch
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 125g sour cream
  • 1 lemon (40g of juice and zest)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 7 eggs (5 whole and 2 yolks)
  • 12-20 plums
  • whole spices (cinnamon sticks, star anise, cloves, black cardamom)

Methods:

  • Preheat the oven to 200C.
  • Take cream cheese and goat cheese out of the fridge, unpackage them onto a plate covered in several layers of paper towels (to remove excess moisture) and put the plate somewhere warm (to bring them to room temp fast).
  • Toast walnuts in the 200C oven until they smell great and start to change color, about 10 min.
  • Keep a glass with straight edges handy.
  • Grease a 23cm loose-bottomed round cake tin with butter.
  • Melt the butter in a microwave.
  • Put digestive biscuits into a zip bag, break them down into small crumbs with a rolling pin, wine bottle or a hammer if that’s all you have.
  • In a large bowl, mix broken down digestive biscuits, 40g sugar, 30g flour, 0.75 teaspoon salt.
  • Lower oven heat to 175C.
  • Chop the toasted walnuts into tiny pieces. Add them to the biscuits. Add melted butter. Mix everything together with your hands. Mix until it holds itself together when you squeeze it.
  • Spread about 40% of the crust mix on the bottom of the cake tin, press it down with your knuckle. Spread the remaining crust mix around the sides of the cake tin and use your knuckle to press it into the sides. The crust should cover the sides of the cake tin until the very top. Use a glass to smooth everything out into a neat crust.
  • Bake the crust empty at 175C for 10 minutes.
  • Split the eggs into two bowls - one with 7 yolks and one with 5 whites.
  • Zest the lemon. Chop the zest into even smaller pieces. Juice the lemon into a small bowl.
  • Once the crust is ready, take it out of the oven. Keep the oven at 160C.
  • Chop the plums into halves and remove the stones. Arrange the plum halves in a lasagna tray, add whole spices.
  • Place cream cheese, goat cheese, 240g sugar, corn starch and 1 teaspoon salt into a large bowl. Mix with a mixer until very very well combined.
  • Add sour cream, 40g of lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla. Mix with a mixer until well combined.
  • Add yolks, one at a time, mixing in each one very well with a mixer.
  • Add egg whites, a bit at a time, mixing in each bit with a mixer until just combined. If overmixed, egg whites will make the cheesecake rise fast once placed in the hot oven and then it will deflate and crack.
  • Pour the mixture into the now fully cooled crust.
  • Place the plum tray near the bottom of the oven and the cheesecake in the center of the oven.
  • Bake at 160C for 60 minutes, without opening the oven. Once the top starts to brown, it’s almost ready. Turn off the oven and, without opening it, allow the cheesecake to cool in the oven for 60 minutes.
  • After 2 hours in the oven, remove both cheesecake and plums. Allow them to come to room temperature. Store the plum sauce in a jar in the fridge.
  • Cover the cheesecake with kitchen foil and refrigerate for 24 hours or at least overnight.

Inspired by: Brian Lagerstrom