Blueberry & Vanilla Crumble Cheesecake

Blueberry & Vanilla Crumble Cheesecake

You can cook this cheesecake without any fruit or topping or change them to your liking eg raspberries, strawberries, lemon, blackberries, baked apples, cooked rhubarb, or add other nuts to the topping such as hazelnuts or pecans.

Ingredients:

Serves 12

For the topping:
200g plain flour
100g cold, butter, diced
150g light soft brown sugar
100g flaked almonds, crushed
½ tsp cinnamon

For the filling:
300g blueberries, plus an extra 100g for finishing
2 tbsp sugar
500g cream cheese
4 tbsp crème fraiche
125g icing sugar
10g corn flour
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs, lightly beaten

Method:

Line the bottom and sides of a 24cm cake tin with non stick baking parchment. Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350°F/Gas Mark 4.

Place the flour and butter in a food processor and pulse until the butter has almost disappeared (you can also do this by hand). Remove from the food processor, add the sugar, almonds and cinnamon and stir. Press half of this mixture into the base of the lined tin. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until just turning golden.

Meanwhile make the filling. Place the blueberries and sugar in a small saucepan and gently heat for about 3-4 minutes, or until they are softening and the juices are turning syrupy. Set aside to cool.

In a large bowl gently beat together the cream cheese and crème fraiche. Add the icing sugar, corn flour and vanilla and stir to combine. Add the eggs and gently mix, you don't want any air bubbles in the mixture.

Spoon the cooled blueberries onto the base in the tin then pour over the cheesecake filling. Bake for 20 minutes or until just starting to set. Sprinkle the remaining crumble topping over the cheesecake and bake for another 20 minutes, or until the cheesecake is set but slightly wobbly and the crumble topping is golden.

Leave to cool in the tin then remove and place on a large plate. Sprinkle with the extra blueberries and serve.