Classic Lemon Cheesecake + Fruit Salad

My mum made a batch of peach puddings this morning. :) They're made from store-bought ready-mix pudding powder.

Tasted absolutely marvellous! Soft and fragrant, texture a bit like 'ta-wu-hua' (Foochow please :D). I was never a fan of the soybean pudding, but this peachy version of it is yummy yummy. :)

Hadn't baked anything at all this holiday, other than the pineapple tarts and prune cake. T-T My wish was actually to make at least one cake per week, but due to my express-weight-gain syndrome, it was never fulfilled. T.T However, seeing that my holidays are coming to an end and I won't be near an oven for another 4 months, I guess baking a cake or two won't hurt much.....

Classic Lemon Cheesecake

Base

110g butter, melted
200g Marie biscuits (any plain biscuits without filling or cream would do actually), crushed finely
2 tablespoons firmly packed brown sugar

Filling

500g cream cheese softened at room temperature
140g castor sugar
Lemon zest. finely grated form 2 lemons
Lemon juice, from 2 lemons, strained
30g cornflour, sifted
3 lightly beaten eggs
300ml whipping cream

1. Prepare base ; Add sugar to biscuits and mix. Pour in butter and mix well. Transfer to cheesecake tin and press the mixture firmly to the base. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 150°C.

2. Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice and cornflour. Beat until smooth. Pour in egss and mix until just combined. Blend in cream until mixture thickens.

3. Pour filling on to biscuit base. Place cake tin in water bath. Bake for 1 hour or until filling is set but slightly soft in the center.

4. Turn off the oven. Leave cake in oven for 30 minutes with the door closed (to prevent cracking on top of cake - if you like everything perfect and pretty). Remove water bath from oven. Leave cake to cool completely in oven with the door ajar.

5. Cover cake and refrigerate for at least 6 hours.

{Receipe taken from Cheesecake Seduction by Catherine Lau Celebrity Chefs' Cookbooks}

{Before baking}

When following a written recipe, be sure to really follow it. I made 2 mistakes while making this cake. 1. I forgot to add the whipping cream. I've already poured the cream cheese filling onto the biscuit base, when I spotted the cup of cream on the table. *Ah* So, what I did - poured the cream into the filling and used a small butter knife to stir. I kept scrapping the base though. T-T 2. I forgot to use the water bath, but the cake turned out ok. :)

{After baking}

{Slice cut right after the cake was done}

Please do not do what I did. I was so impatient to taste it that I cut a slice right after the cake got out of the oven. Had to, because I was dying from a looong period of no-cheesecake-and-chocolate. :P To obtain the best results for this cake, please follow the recipe posted above. :)

Oh, and I made this set of plushies yesterday :

Lime + Grapefruit + Mutant Tomato-Orange-Apple Slices

Will be listing them on Etsy sometime later in the day. Listed on Etsy. Please click on the pictures to view more details and to buy on Etsy.