Amenities

Basic recipe

1 packet sweet biscuits

200-250 gms butter

500 gms of cream cheese, preferably Philadelphia, as a firmer cake can be made. Use full cream, not lite.

1 can condensed milk once again full cream, not light.

2-3 lemons, juiced.  You’ll need around 1/4 cup, less is more – you don’t want the lemon flavour to conflict with the main flavour.

Additions and flavours

Cream for decoration.

Base

1 packet sweet biscuits of your choice.(if your doing a chocolate cake, use chocolate biscuits, e.g. chocolate ripple. Or plain sweet biscuits for other flavours. I’d choose, Marie, morning coffee over Nice, as there is enough sweetness in the final product, without the extra sugar.)

200-250 grms of butter. It depends on the weather, warmer weather you’d may use less.

Crush biscuits finely with a rolling pin and place in bowl. (If in a caravan, a wine bottle is a good substitute.) Melt butter in saucepan and pour into crumb mix.  Stir with spoon until crumbs are well coated. Put into prepared springform tin, or long oblong tray, or 28 x 18 cms cake tin.

(If not using springform tin, line the tin you’re using with baking paper, ensuing the paper covers the corners.  Tip: put drops of water on tray before placing paper down, you’ll find it’s easier, as paper will adhere with the water.)

Press down firmly with either back of spoon, a glass, or even with your hands. Make sure that it is firmly on the sides and into corners.

Put it fridge to harden and set.  If the crumb doesn’t hold the imprint of your fingers, when a handful is pressed together, you’ll need more butter.

Filling

Cream the cheese until broken up and light and fluffy. Add condensed milk and mix well. Add lemons juice and blend all together.  The lemon juice helps set the cheesecake. Pour on top of crumbs and smooth over. Put in fridge around 24 hours before required.

Additions and flavours.

A couple of words – go for it!  You can add pulped fruit, e.g. mangoes, strawberries, bananas, passion fruit. Tinned fruit, peaches, apricots grapes.

Mixed the crushed/pulped fruit into the cheesecake mixture before pouring into tin.

Or you mix half the fruit, and fold in the rest, to give fruity chunks throughout.  Also looks good when serving.

When doing a fruit cake, keep whole/halved pieces for decoration, put spoonfuls of cream around edges of top of cheesecake, and the rest halved pieces of fruit around the cream. Maybe add a couple of sprigs of mint for colour.

Mixing different fruits on the top for decoration will add to it aesthetically, but make sure flavours go with flavours.

When doing a chocolate cheesecake, you can melt chocolate till just pouring, then swirl with a knife. Gives a fancy pattern. Then put spoonfuls of cream on top, and top with chocolate buttons.

Or instead of the swirls, just add small chunks of whole chocolate, or mint chocolate for added flavour.

Of course when I say spoonfuls of cream, if you brought on with you, you could use a pipe and bag, and pipe swirled rosettes, extra kudos.