Oh, cream cheese of my heart
So, let me declare that Nigella is my desserts goddess. She really, truly is. Every recipe that I’ve dared to create from her “How to be a domestic goddess” book has turned out simply and magnificently (can any other Nigella fans vouch for any of her other books? It’s been awhile since I’ve been on a cookbook-buying binge!)
After the cinnabun disaster this morning, I was feeling sad and lonely, and like my kitchen skills had suddenly departed my hands (Oh why has thou forsaken me in my hour of need?!), so to make myself feel better I turned to an oldie but a goodie - Nigella’s recipe for a London Cheesecake.
If you haven’t tried this recipe - you bloody well should. It’s rich and the water bath ensures a silky, cloud-like texture. The sour cream topping is literally the icing on the cake and adds a firmer layer of sweet tartness once set (I know that sounds like a pure contradiction, but you’ll see what I mean).
Baked London Cheesecake (adapted from ‘How To Be A Domestic Goddess‘)
Ingredients
200g digestive biscuits (I use Arnotts Marie biscuits)
100g unsalted butter at room temperature
600g cream cheese
150g caster sugar
3 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
1 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
300ml tub sour cream
1/4 cup caster sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1. Either use a food processor or place the biscuits in a plastic bag and use a rolling pin to pulverise. Add the butter and rub into the pulverised biscuits till they resemble breadcrumbs.
2. Line the bottom of a 20cm springform cake tin and press the biscuits in with your hands, making sure to compact them right into the edges. Put the base in the fridge to set and preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
3. Beat the cream cheese till it’s as soft as creamed butter, then add the sugar and beat in again. Beat in the eggs and egg yolk, then the vanilla and then the lemon juice. Put an almost full kettle on to boil at this stage.
4. Remove the cake tin from the fridge and line 3 times with strong foil, making sure to alternate short and tall sides of the foil (since it’s rectangular and all…uhh…yeah…). Pour cream cheese mix into the chilled cake tin and place into a roasting dish.
5. Pour the boiling water into the roasting dish so it comes up halfway around the cake tin - bear in mind that less is better than more as overfilling will make removing the cake tin difficult. Place the whole thing in the oven and bake for 50 minutes till it feels set when you lightly touch the surface, and it wobbles like a set jelly.
6. Whilst the cake is baking, beat together the sour cream, sugar and vanilla. If your sour cream is as thick and solid as mine, you may want to zap it in the microwave for a few seconds till it liquefies, as otherwise it will be a bit blobby on top of the cake. Once the cake has set, pour the sour cream mix on top of the cake and bake for a further 10 minutes.
7. Remove the cake from the oven, unwrap the foil and stand it on a rack to cool. Once it has cooled completely, leave it to set in the fridge for about 4-6 hours as it helps to make the cake more solid and the flavours meld together. Remove 15 minutes before serving to take the edge off the coldness. Unmould and use a knife which has been run under hot water to cut and serve 
See what I mean by velvety softness? Would you believe that this is a baked cheesecake? Ok, so I cheated and cut into it before it had finished cooling down, but even when this has cooled the texture is still moist and the cake just disslves in your mouth. Definetely worth a shot
Technorati Tags: cream cheese, cheesecake, biscuits, baking, sour cream
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Comments
Hi there!
I’ve heard quite a bit about that book - and recently discovered the foodblog “Sarah discovers how to eat”, where the writer is valiently working through every recipe in the book - it sounds delish! It may warrant a trip to bookstores tomorrow to try and track it down
I’m a bit touch and go with Mr. Oliver, I’ve tried some of his recipes and whilst I’ve had some successes, I’ve never been completely blown away enough to get any of his books (his ‘italy’ book was a present!). Is there any of his that you’d particularly recommend?
Btw, totally love your cookie cutters! 
Holy comoly does that look delish! I love cheesecake, but I don’t get the opportunity to make it that often. Since it sounds like you make, at least this particular one, often.. do you know if cheesecake freezes well? I might consider making them more often if I had a way of preserving them for future nibbling
it is totally delish - and totally devoured. All gone. In about 24 hours.
Now, for my family, that’s quite impressive as other than my kid brother, none of us are big dairy eaters! I’m not entirely sure if cheesecake freezes well as I’ve never had a cheesecake last long enough to warrant freezing, but due to the considerable water content in this one, I wouldn’t have thought it would work all so well…
Actually, nevermind, I just found this on AllRecipes: http://allrecipes.com/faq/268.asp which seems to imply that freezing is possible. However, since they don’t recommend repeated thawing and refreezing, perhaps you could slice it up and stick it in the freezer - removing slices whenever you felt like it?
Just done some more surfing on this topic, general consensus tends to be that baked cheesecakes are A-OK to freeze
Love Nigella - Sweets I can totally recomend off the top of my head are the choclate respberry pavlova, sticky date pudding, mocha cake, trifle, jsut to name a few. I have Feast, Nigella bites & Forever Summer. If you check out my blog under the cookbook sections in the sidebar, click on the book link & as I go I am adding the stuff I have cooked from all my books. Some i have done pre blog I will have to make all over again. By the way also love Jamie as you will see!
LOL! I am very, very envious of your cookbook collection! And quite a Jamie collection too! Which of his books would you recommend to a first time jamie initiate?
awww thanks for letting me know about the freezing. I’m happy to know I can make one and not let it go to waste now! Your post stuck with me all day yesterday.. cheeeeesssssseeeeeeecake.. cheeeessssseeeecake.. gawd. When I got home from work I realized I didn’t have enough cream cheese (actually none at all) but I did have a fresh container of Mascarpone.. so I went with a Gooey Cake by Paula Deen - essentially it’s a way easy knock off of cheesecake. I’ll post it tonight.. went with the lemon version.. YUM! You see what you do to me? tee heeeee!
Also, I have Feast as well.. holy comoly does she have some wonderful recipes in it. I am definitely going to be buying Goddess and I think she’s got one that’s called “Nigella Bites” (after the show, I assume?) that is suppose to be wonderful too.
No worries - I aim to please And after this many years in uni (college), my mantra has become “google is my friend” 
and is my place to turn whenever I don’t know the answer to something (which is actually nearly all the time!!)
I’ve been going “cheeeeeesecaaaaaake cheeeeeeeesecaaaaaaaake” as well!! I want to make another one, but that involves going shopping for cream cheese and alas, I’m sick and can’t leave the house 
I will wait for your Gooey Cake and live vicariously through those photos!
I’ve heard good things about Feast as well - If I feel somewhat better tomorrow, I’ll be making a trip out to get a bit of retail therapy
I think mr. oliver’s earliers are better. Think the Italy one is the weakest. Go for Naked Chef or Return of Naked Chef. Good all rounders, and a couple of splendid semifreddo recipes.
The more I look at that cheese cake of yours, the more I think we NEED one this weekend.
Italy has some nicely shot photos and I love the stock that it’s printed on (weird thing to like, but I work in publishing so these things matter to me ;)) but the recipes just weren’t that impressive, and the actual food in the photos didn’t grab me :/ I’ll have a look at Naked Chef tomorrow if I make it out of the house
Ooooh, you definetely need to try this cheesecake. I have converted people who are anti-cheesecake into passionate lovers (well, of this recipe anyway) with this particular cheesecake. You really do want to make it the day/night before you want to serve it though, as the overnight chilling in the fridge helps bring it all together
I sell cheesecakes as a second career and you can definately freeze them. For whole, uncut cakes, about 2 months, wrapped well. Single slices, again wrapped well in plastic wrap first and then in aluminum foil and placed in a freezer bag, for no longer than 2 months.
Thanks for the tip, Lisa Ann When I make this for my family it’s usually gone within 2-3 days so it doesn’t warrant freezing, but it’s definitely good to know in case I need to make one ahead of time
Love all Nigella’s books. I bought How to Eat about… ooh, 8 or 9 years ago from reading about it on Amazon. We hadn’t seen her at that stage on the Teev. She’s never let me down. Feast is also a beauty. And Mr James Oliver’s Bread and Pizza recipes are failsafe.