Cheesecakes are a simple, if not slightly time consuming, dessert that are an almost guaranteed crowd pleaser. Making a cheesecake doesn’t require too much active cooking time, but it does need quite a bit of time to cool down. There is one common problem in baked cheesecakes, and that is cracking. A lot of people use a water bath to reduce the risk of cracking. I prefer leaving a shallow dish of water in the oven, sperate from the cake, to simulate a steam oven.

The other major challenge is actually removing the cake from the tin. Using a springform pan is a must. Also make sure that you have the bottom of the tin the right way. It sounds silly, but I’ve made that mistake a couple times, and there is no way to separate the cake from the tin at that point.

This time I made a lingonberry sauce with the cheesecake. If you have fresh strawberries or raspberries, they also pair really nicely with cheesecake.

• For The Crust
• 70g butter
• 150g graham crackers
• 30g sugar
• For The Filling
• 800g cream-cheese
• 200g sugar
• 5 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• juice and zest of 1/2 a lemon

1. To make the crust, crush the crackers into a coarse powder and melt the butter. Mix them together along with 30g sugar. Spread the mixture onto the bottom of a ~22cm cake tin and press down firmly. If you want an edge to your crust, spread more of the mixture to the edges of the tin and press the excess onto the side of the tin.
2. Heat the oven to 175°C. Pre bake the crust for 8-10 minutes.
3. Using a hand whisk, mix together the rest of the sugar, cream-cheese, vanilla extract and lemon juice and zest. Once the mixture is smooth whisk in the eggs one at a time. Try not to over whisk the eggs.
4. Pour the filling onto the crust and bake for 15 minutes in 175°C, then lower to 150°C and continue baking for ~60 minutes, or until the filling in the center barely jiggles.
5. Once baked, leave the cake into the oven with the door slightly ajar to cool off.
6. Serve as is, or with a zingy berry sauce.