I love London…again!
No, I’m not going to London - I WISH! Unfortunately, it’s just a repost of this humble but exquisite baked London cheesecake, courtesy of Nigella Lawson. I have been making this particular cake ever since I first purchased this cookbook a few years ago, its the cheesecake which convinced my family that cheesecake could actually be tasty (though it also spoiled them in that they refuse any cheesecake other than ones I’ve made at home!) and is the only recipe that has resulted in people begging, cajoling and almost grovelling to me to sell this cake to them, despite my offers to give them the recipe so they could make it themselves.
Errr, okay…?!
Personally, I don’t understand the logic of offering to buy cheesecakes for $25 a pop when the recipe is being given to you for free, but hey, apparently some people have that kind of money to burn!
This cake tastes so amazing that, believe it or not, it’s the only baked cheesecake recipe I return to without fail, so much so that I actually have no interest in trying other recipes. Because, frankly, when you’ve got perfection, why mess with it, hey?
(For long time readers, yes, I’ve blogged this recipe before, but I was so chuffed with the photos that I thought they deserved a repost, hehehe!)
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 wrap the outside of the tin 3 times with strong foil, making sure to alternate short and tall sides of the foil (since it’s rectangular and all…uhh…yeah…). This prevents water from getting into the cake tin, which will make the biscuit base soggy and disgusting. 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 
Ingredients
1 cup blueberries
2-3 tbsp caster sugar
1/4 cup water
Blend the blueberries and run the puree through a fine sieve to remove the seeds and skin bits. Pour the sieved puree into a small, heavy bottomed saucepan and stir in the sugar and water. Turn the heat up to medium and bring the liquid to a simmer while stirring constantly till the sugar has dissolved, then leave the liquid to simmer till the mixture has considerably thickened and become sticky and syrupy, and tastes like blueberry jam. Allow to cool before pouring over cheesecake slices as a most impressive adornment!
Technorati Tags: Nigella Lawson, Cheesecake, baking, recipes, blueberries, dessert, food
People who have tried this recipe:
- Indigo from Happy Love Strawberry
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Comments
DocChuck Beautiful photos!
My wife and I have visited London on occasion (usually on our way to Scotland and Ireland).
Since we are cheesecake lovers, we have ordered it in several London restaurants and have never seen any that looked as good as your photos. And, yes, it was rather expensive there (what ISN’T expensive in London?).
Definitely, we are going to try your version. Luckily our local Giant Supermarket happens to have blueberries on sale this week!
Thanks for the recipe.
Deborah Your cheesecake looks amazing! But I do have to say I found a cheesecake recipe you should try if you like lemon. I haven’t posted it yet, but it is coming. In the meantime, I really need to get myself one of Nigella’s cookbooks!!!
Karen Gorgeous photo. I haven’t tried this recipe before, but it’s now going on my list. Nigella Lawson is one of my favourite cooks - have you got her new book Nigella Express? I’ve made lots of things from that over Christmas. And seeing all your food photo’s (I found you via Flickr) has inspired me to try to photograph the cakes etc I make.
Ellie Evette - Thanks hon, I’m glad that you want to try this recipe Unfortunately, math is not my strong point and so conversions are a bit of a pain in the *rse for me to do, but if you want to work them out for yourself, you can do so with this website - http://www.onlineconversion.com/cooking.htm
Brilynn - Thanks hon 
Rhian - Thanks! I hope your family enjoy it as much as mine do
DocChuck - Glad you like the photos
Sarina - Thanks!
Deborah - Your timing is UNCANNY! My sister was literally JUST telling me of a lovely lemon cheesecake that she had tried, and begged me to find a recipe to make it for her! I’ll have to wait till yours goes up, then give it a shot!
Karen - Thanks hon Haven’t got the newest Nigella cookbook as I’ve banned myself from any new purchases till I try at least 10% of the recipes from my existing ones (which is a LOT!) but I’ll have to keep an eye out for it and maybe add it to the wishlist 
Kat - Thanks sunshine
JEP - Cheers!
Marc hi! wonderful recipe which i will definitely try for the party i need to attend this coming weekend. am unsure about one of the instructions though, and am hoping that you would enlighten me. in Step 4, you mentioned to line it three times with strong foil. not too sure what you mean by lining? the outside of the tin? so that the water won’t get in? sorry for being totally blurr… have never tried cheesecakes before.
Thanks in advance!
Ellie Marc - I was literally just about to edit that line as someone else emailed me and picked me up on it I meant that you should wrap the outside of the tin in foil three times, making sure that you alternate short sides (unless your roll is much wider than mine, you’ll have two short sides of foil and two long ones against your cake tin, just alternate these so the water can’t get in!)
Hope this makes sense, would love to hear how the recipe goes and what you think of it
Linda Looks absolutely great, but I wish I liked cheesecake 
‘How to be a Domestic Goddess’ is an excellent book. Her recipes can sometimes be a bit all over the place, but I’ve made heaps of tasty stuff from it!
Sarah Hi there!
Your photos look lovely! I’ve made this cheesecake a couple of times before, and whilst it had a very nice texture and taste, I found it a little too rich. I’ll have to try it with the blueberry syrup next time!!
xox Sarah
Ellie Cindy - Thanks hon
Linda - I kinda know how you feel this is the only cheesecake that I’ll eat, and even then, its about half a slice and that’s it :/ It is an excellent book..so much so that I’ve barely cracked the spine of the other two that I own (o_O) eek!
Sarah - Thanks hon It is a very rich cheesecake, which is why I only serve slivers at a time its nice with any berry syrup, I’m planning on trying blackberry next!
Indigo OFIGDIKRMNJKNKDNKCOR <333
Give me a minute to get over my incoherencies.
I have a cheesecake obsession, and while I usually preferred the kind that aren’t baked, this looks stunning.
I might have to wait til February to make it, if I don’t want to eat the whole thing single-handedly, is the only problem (everyone I know is still on their post-Christmas diets yet). But then again…
Mansi wow, that cheesecake would surely make you a domestic Goddess any day!!:) looks awesome! I really liked the thick syrup..beautiful color:)
Katy springform pan! ahh, that makes sense. i was going to ask what kind of pan you used, but you beat me to it!
Ellie Indigo - LOL! That’s the best response I’ve ever seen 
This is a *very* rich cheesecake so I don’t think anyone could polish it off single handedly, but it might be good to wait till February just in case
Mansi - Thanks hon, I loved the syrup too
Katy - No worries
Johanna Wow that cheesecake looks amazing - especially with the blueberry syrup - I really want to make some now, but as I know I wont (still have to clean kitchen from last cooking frenzy) I would happily pay for a piece!
Solanie Hi, I’m a big fan of cheesecake and I just tried yours. I had a little problem with the water. Even wrapped in foil, water got all over my tin. I don’t know if my foil is just to small but I don’t get how it is supposed to prevent the water to get in. What would be the difference if I tried to cook it without the water/foil thing? thanks
Laura This looks amazing! And I agree, Nigella is almost unbeatable on baked cheesecake. The only one that I would venture to say is actually better is Nigel Slater’s citrus cheesecake, which is made with mascarpone and is unbelievable.
Just found your site and your recipe for this delicious looking baked cheesecake. Do you mind posting the US measurement equivalents? Thank you so much in advanced