Colm O'Gorman's simple lemon and ginger cheesecake

The Great British Bake Off is back and I for one am just delighted! I plan to spend every Tuesday night for the next several weeks glued to my screen, and most weekends baking recipes inspired by the show.

I love to bake. Everything and anything really, from fresh bread to biscuits, from cakes to desserts, there is little I love more than spending an afternoon in the kitchen and then serving up a delicious treat to friends and family.

Inspired by the return of Bake Off, my recipe this week is a gorgeous Lemon and Ginger Cheesecake. Ironically enough, this is not in fact a baked cheesecake, so if you make this you will not need to so much as turn on your oven.

It is a beautiful dessert. Fresh lemon makes it bright, zesty, and tart. Fresh cream and cream cheese add depth and richness, and I also use cottage cheese in my mixture which adds some lovely subtly savoury notes and some texture. 

The base is made with ginger nut biscuits, and I also use some stem ginger syrup and a nugget of finely chopped stem ginger in the filling. The ginger adds a lovely warming note to the cheesecake and is absolutely delicious.

To ensure that the cheesecake is set by the time you want to serve it, I recommend that you make it a day in advance and allow the filing to set overnight. Beyond that, this is a quite simple dessert to make.

Lemon and Ginger Cheesecake

recipe by:Colm O'Gorman

The ginger adds a lovely warming note to this Great British Bake Off inspired dessert

Servings

10

Preparation Time

 7 hours 0 mins

Total Time

 7 hours 0 mins

Course

 Dessert

Cuisine

 Irish

Ingredients

• For the base:

• 200g ginger nut biscuits

• 100g unsalted butter

• For the filling:

• 350ml cream

• 300g cottage cheese

• 200g cream cheese

• 100g caster sugar

• 3 sheets of platinum leaf gelatine

• 2 lemons

• 1 nugget of stem ginger

• 2 tbsp of syrup from a jar of stem ginger

• 1 egg white

• To serve:

• A handful of toasted flaked almonds

• Some strips of lemon zest

Method

1. Start by pulsing the ginger nut biscuits for the cheesecake base in a food processor until they are reduced to a crumb.

2. Melt the butter and add that to the crumb, combining it thoroughly.

3. Line the base of a 23cm springform or push up baking tin with some non-stick baking paper and lightly butter the sides of the tin.

4. Spread the biscuit and butter mixture over the base of the tin and press it down firmly to get an even layer. I use the flat bottom of a glass to gently press the mixture down to ensure I have a firm, even spread across the base of my tin. Put the tin in the fridge to chill while you make the filling.

5. To prepare the filling, begin by putting the leaves of gelatine in a bowl of cold water and soak them for ten minutes.

6. Finely chop one nugget of stem ginger. In a large mixing bowl, combine the cottage cheese, cream cheese, sugar, the zest of one lemon and the juice of two, the chopped stem ginger and two tablespoons of syrup from the jar of stem ginger. You can do this in a food mixer if you wish, but it is very easy to mix it in a bowl by hand. This will also save on the washing up as if you use a food mixer, you will need to transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl so that you can add in the other ingredients for the filling.

7. Heat 175ml of the cream in a small saucepan, taking it almost to the boil, and then remove it from the heat. Take the leaves of gelatine from the bowl of water and give them a good squeeze in your hand to remove any excess water.

8. Add the gelatine to the pan of hot cream and stir it in. The gelatine will dissolve almost instantly. Now add the cream and gelatine mixture to the bowl with the cheese, lemon, ginger, and sugar mixture and stir to combine everything thoroughly.

9. Lightly whip the remaining 175ml of cream in another bowl until you have soft peaks and gently fold that through the cheese and cream mixture.

10. Finally, use a handheld electric whisk or a food mixer to whisk an egg white with until you have stiff peaks, and then carefully fold that through the mixture. Do take your time folding in the egg white. They will add lots of air to the filling and make it beautifully light. Resist the urge to whisk it in, instead taking your time to gradually fold it in using a spatula until there is well incorporated. You can leave out the egg white if you wish, but the lightness it brings to the filling is well worth the little bit of extra effort.

11. Remove your cake tin from the fridge and pour in the filling, giving the tin a few gentle taps on your worktop to make sure the filling is spread evenly.

12. Cover the tin with some cling film and allow the cheesecake to set overnight in the fridge. If you do decide to make your cheesecake on the day you will serve it, make sure you allow at least six hours for it to set.

13. When you are ready to serve, carefully remove the cheesecake from the tin. Toast some flaked almonds and cut some fine strips of lemon zest from a fresh lemon. Scatter the toasted almonds over the top of the cheesecake and then to finish, arrange the lemon zest strips in the centre.