A dear girlfriend has been having a tough time of things lately, so I decided that a visit needed to be accompanied by a sweet pick me up! This no bake cheesecake is really easy to make and the finished result is creamy and smooth but not too sweet due to the lemon juice. My husband also loves cheesecake and has been begging me (literally) to make this cake for a very long time. So half for my friend and half for the hubby!

Ingredients

Base

• 250g sweet biscuits (crumbed)
• 125g unsalted butter

Filling

• 500g cream cheese (room temperature)
• 3/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 400ml sweetened condensed milk
• 2 tspn vanilla extract

I used a 23cm (9 inch) spring form cake tin and sprayed it with oil. I then lined the base of the tin with baking paper. This makes it super easy to remove the cake from the tin once it has set in the fridge.

Whiz the sweet biscuits in a food processor (or place in a plastic bag and bang with a rolling pin) and melt the butter for 40 seconds in the microwave. Mix together. Spread and press half of the mixture on to the base of the cake tin and then using a spoon to spread the rest of the mixture up the sides. Chill it in the fridge for 15 minutes.

While the base is setting in the fridge, squeeze the lemons. It took two lemons to get the required 3/4 cup of juice. I love my Alessi rocket juicer…it looks completely impractical, but juices perfectly.

In a mixer, mix together the cream cheese and vanilla extract until light and fluffy. Then gradually add the sweetened condensed milk and lemon juice. Mix for at least 5 minutes to remove all the lumps and scrape down the side of the bowl a couple of times.

Pour the cream cheese mixture in to the chilled biscuit base and return to the fridge for 6 hours, though leave it over night for best results.

Once set, go around the inside of the tin with a warm knife to ensure that when you go to remove the spring form cake tin, it doesn’t split the cake. Slowly release the tin. Pick up the base using the baking paper and position it on a plate while removing the baking paper.

Decorate with seasonal fruit…in my case strawberries, but blueberries and raspberries go particularly well.