Blackberry & Lemon Cheesecake

After the success of my Raspberry and Lemon Cheesecake I decided to try a blackberry version.  This time though I would use frozen rather than fresh berries.  In the UK frozen berries are much cheaper than the fresh ones and work very well in making sauces etc.   In fact mine turned out very well.  The blackberries may well have been grown on the planet Gargantua for all I know, they were absolutely massive, much larger than we see in the hedgerows in the UK.

Although I made my own blackberry sauce/jam for this recipe you could always buy some jam heat it up, adding a little water to thin it very slightly.

The cheesecake mixture was added into the springform pan in two parts, so that some of the blackberry sauce could be added and swirled around in the middle.  Then the remaining sauce was added to the top and formed into a rather loose spider web type pattern.  I am the first to admit that decorating and piping are not my forte, but I will always give it a go.

I had a good amount of the blackberry jam left over, so that can be served on the side if required.

The cheesecake turned out rather well, and I am very pleased with the result.  It does take rather a long time to complete, but the effort is well worth, as you end up with a delicious lemon cheesecake  with the blackberry jam adding to the overall sensation.

Update:
Others have tried it now and confirm that it is delicious, so give this one a try.

Ingredients:

• 350g blackberries fresh or frozen
• 150g granulated sugar
• 400ml water
• 220g digestive biscuits(Graham crackers are fine too)
• 85g unsalted butter, melted
• 600g full fat soft cheese
• 250g caster sugar
• 150g natural yoghurt
• 3 medium eggs, beaten (large eggs in the UK)
• grated zest of 2 lemons and the juice of one.
• 50g plain flour

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180c/350F
2. Grease a 9inch springform cake tin.
3. Place the water and granulated sugar in a saucepan and bring to the boil.
4. As the sugar dissolves add the blackberries and allow to boil, stirring from time to time, for about 30 minutes until the raspberries have disintegrated and the mixture has begun to thicken.
5. Remove from the heat and strain to remove the seeds.
6. If you don’t think your jam is thick enough you can mix a teaspoon of cornflour in cold water and gradually add to to the boiling jam to thicken it a little more, though this should be done after straining the seeds out.
7. Set aside to cool completely.
8. Take the digestive biscuits and turn them into crumbs, in a food processor, or in a plastic bag hit with a rolling pin.
9. Place the crumbs in a bowl and add the melted butter and mix together.
10. Tip the mixture into the cake tin and spread all over the base, patting down to make it firm.
11. Place in the oven for 6 minutes.
12. Remove from the oven and allow to cool, then place in the fridge to allow the base to firm up completely.
13. Preheat the oven to 120c/250F
14. In a stand mixer(this can all be done by hand if necessary) place the soft cheese and sugar.
15. Mix until combined.  It doesn’t need a lot of mixing as we don’t want air in the mixture.
16. Add the yoghurt and mix in.
17. Add the eggs and mix to combine.
18. Add the lemon zest and juice and mix to combine.
19. Add the flour and mix again just to combine.
20. Place about half the mixture in the cake tin and spread all over the base.
21. Use a spoon to drizzle some of the jam onto the mixture and then use a knife or skewer to swirl it in a bit.  You don’t want to mix it all in so the mixture is pink.
22. Add the remainder of the cheese mixture and spread all over, using a spatula to level it off.
23. Place the remaining jam into a piping bag and pipe four or five circles onto the cheesecake mixture.
24. Use a skewer to drag lines from the outside ring into the centre, to make a sort of spider web.
25. Place in the oven and bake for 45 minutes to one hour.  The centre should just wobble a little..
26. Turn the oven off and leave the cheesecake in there for another hour. it will firm up during that hour.
27. Remove from the oven and using a thin, sharp, knife run it around the edge of the cheesecake to loosen it from the edge of the cake tin.  This will help avoid cracks in the cheesecake as it cools and contracts.
28. Allow to cool completely and then cover with clingfilm and place in the refrigerator overnight.
29. In the morning remove from the fridge and take the cheesecake out of the tin and place on a plate for serving.