Baked Lemon Cheesecake

Oh my gosh… I think I may have died and gone to heaven.  This is delicious!! And low carb to boot – not that it has to be, of course.

I happened to have some lemon curd left over in my fridge… I know, right, who has left over lemon curd??  So I added some additional decadence to this recipe with several big dollops of lemon curd swirled through the cheesecake, served with lemon curd cream on the side.  There were three pieces left over on the night that it was made.  I may have stashed them in the back of the fridge where I knew no one except the most determined would look… and I may have eaten a piece a day for the next three days… Just sayin’.  It was that good.

And would you believe, I didn’t take a single photo… looks like I will have to make it again … don’t worry, I’ll take one for the team.

Ingredients

Crust:

2 large eggs, beaten till frothy 1 cup almonds or almond meal 1/3 cup sugar 1 tsp baking powder

Filling:

500g cream cheese, full fat 40g sugar 1 tbs vanilla extract 4 tsp lemon juice (or more to taste) 2 large eggs Dollops of lemon curd to swirl through (optional)

Thermal Cooker Method

Preheat oven to 160 degrees, fan forced.  Grease a 20 cm springform pan.

If needing to mill whole almonds into almond meal, add almonds to TM bowl and blitz on spd 9 for 10 secs.

Add the rest of the crust ingredients to the TM bowl with the almond meal and mix on spd 6 for 15 secs.

Pour into prepared pan and press into base.  Bake in oven for 15 minutes or until lightly browned. 

Allow to cool for 5 minutes.

Whilst the crust is cooling, prepare the filling. 

Into a clean TM bowl place the cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice and vanilla extract.  Combine on spd 6 for 30 secs. 

Whilst the TM is still running, add the eggs one at a time through the hole in the top of the lid and combine until the mixture is smooth. 

Taste the mixture and adjust to your personal preference.

Pour the filling over the cooled crust, spread evenly. 

Optional – dollop spoonfuls of lemon curd onto the filling and using a knife, gently swirl the curd through.  You want to leave visible trails of curd.

Bake the cheesecake in the oven for 30 minutes or until the centre is set (it doesn’t need to be too firm).  Cool on  a wire rack for 30 minutes.  Enjoy at room temperature with a dollop of lemon curd cream.

A note from Gracious Goodness :

Most people like their cheesecake fresh and at room temperature but I like mine out of the fridge as when left to set overnight the consistency turns into a lovely fudgy cake. 

Edit: Made it again just for you – the top of my cake cracked as I opened the oven door whilst it was cooking.  It can also crack if it is over cooked.  Ideally you want a 5cm wobbly bit in the centre of the cake when you take it out of the oven.  It will continue to cook as it cools

If you would like to make this low carb substitute the sugar for xylitol or stevia.

If you are out of fresh lemon, you could easily substitute a few drops of 100% pure, food safe doTERRA lemon essential oil instead of the lemon juice. Only ever use essential oils in your cooking that say they are safe for internal use on the label. These oils will have the Food Standards of Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) tick of approval as a food additive.

If you would like to learn more about CPtG food safe essentials oils head over to here or send me a message. I would love to chat with you about my two favourite things - food and oils!

Sandra xo