One Apple, Two Blueberry Cheesecakes & Three A Trip to Lewes

It’s my friend’s birthday and she had special request for a baked cheesecake.

So, the night before I met her, I baked, not one but two small cheesecakes.

The recipe was actually for a 8” cake but we’re going to a historical & lovely town called Lewes.

It’s not a good idea to bring a giant 8” cake around.

The little cheesecake turned out great with simple arrangement of poached apples & my friend loved it :)

I cooked some blueberry jam & simply spread over the other cheesecake which I brought to my mum the next day when we had lunch together.

Lewes was an adorable town, full of antique shops, cozy cafe & cute crafts stores.

There is also a big flea market & it's like treasure hunting :)

Floral tea cups & saucers bought from Lewes.

Recipe (make two 6'' round):

Crust

140 g digestive biscuit crumbs

50 g unsalted butter, melted

Mix the ingredients & bake in an oven at 150C for 15 min.

After cooling, press into 6" springform pans.

Cheesecake Filling

200 g cream cheese

180 g sour cream

70 g sugar

2 eggs

2 tbsp + 1 tsp cornstarch

1/2 lemon, zest only & finely ground

Preheat oven to 170C & butter the pan.

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese with sugar until smooth.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Blend in sour cream, stir until smooth.

Sieve in cornstarch & mix well.

Sieve through the batter.

Add in the lemon zest, mix well.

Divide into the prepared pans & bake for 20 min, then leave to cool in the oven.

Earl Grey Tea Poached Apples

2 apples, peeled, cored & sliced

100 g sugar

200 ml water

1 teabag of earl grey tea

Combine water, sugar & tea bag in a pot, bring it to boil.

Reduce the heat to a simmer, add in the apple slices & cook for 5 min or until apples become soft.

Remove apples from the syrup & set aside for cooling.

Add 1/2 tbsp of corn flour to the syrup & cook until it thickens.

Remove from heating & set aside for cooling.

Blueberry Jam

150 g fresh blueberries

35 g granulated sugar

1/4 lemon, juice only

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan & cook until it thickens.

Assembling

Remove cheesecakes from the pans.

Working from outwards, arrange poached apple slices in a rose shape & brush some syrup over the apple slices.

Spread the blueberry jam on top of another cheesecake.

Cool for 2 hours before serving