Lemony Speculoos Cheesecake

On Wednesday I went to a supermarket and wondered that they’ve already started to sell Speculoos cookies. Speculoos cookies are a pretty Christmassy thing but it’s still a while until Christmas… Nevertheless, since the moment I saw them I wanted to eat them even if it’s not THAT time of the year. Then, yesterday I was craving something sweet and homemade and remembered a recipe with Spekulatius cookies. I found it years ago at JamieOliver ‘s homepage, posted by Allora Andiamo. I just changed her recipe a bit. 

This morning after the cake's beauty sleep I ate 2 pieces of it at once and I could eat even more. It’s so lovely!

For a 6-inch round cake tin

Ingredients

Speculoos base:

• 116g Speculoos biscuits, finely crushed
• 50g butter, melted

Filling:

• 290g cream cheese
• 105ml double cream
• 87g quark cheese
• 50g icing sugar
• Juice and finely grated zest of 1 large organic lemon
• 5 gelatin leaves

Lemon topping:

• 1 egg
• 46g icing sugar
• 46g of butter, cut into small cubes
• Juice + finely grated zest of 1 organic lemon
• 1 tbsp of double (thick) cream

Method:

Before you start bring all the ingredients to room temprature.

Fort he base, mix together the crushed biscuits and melted butter then gently press into the tin. Put in the fridge. 

Soak the gelatin leaves for 10 minutes in ice-cold water. 

In a small saucepan, add a couple of tablespoons of the lemon juice you’ll use for the filling and warm on a very low heat. Add the gelatin leaves and mix well until they’re dissolved. Remove from heat and leave to cool slightly. 

In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, lemon zest and (remaining) lemon juice, until the sugar has melted. Add the cream cheese, double cream and quark and continue whisking for about 1 minute. The cream should be nice and fluffy. 

Pour the mixture into the tin and spread out evenly. Place the cheesecake in the fridge and allow to set for 2 hours before making the topping.
 

Make the lemon topping. Place the egg, butter, sugar, lemon juice and zest in a small saucepan. Cook over a low heat for approx. 10 minutes whisking the whole time. Once the sauce has thickened remove from the heat then whisk in one tablespoon of double cream.
 

Leave the sauce to cool completely then spread over the cheesecake. Refrigerate overnight.

Fruit Cake with Lemon and Almonds

This is a cake recipe I use very often because I just love the cake’s moist (and slightly sandy) texture, lemony smell and sizzling flavour. You can use any fruit you like for the top; I tried it until now with blueberries, raspberries, apricots, cherries – and the last time with blackberries.

If you ask me, the cake needs some fruit that’s slightly sour, but go ahead, try the recipe with any fruit of your choice and form your own opinion.

Here comes the recipe for a 20 x 25 cm square tin:

Ingredients

• 75 grams of blanched almonds 
• 75 grams of icing sugar 
• 125 grams flour 
• 1 tsp baking powder 
• 150 grams of butter 
• 1 tsp vanilla extract 
• zest and juice of 1 (small) lemon 
• 2 eggs 
• plenty of fruits of your choice 

Method

First, melt the butter on a low heat and leave to cool slightly.

Finely ground the almonds and icing sugar in a food processor until very fine (pulse for approx. 1 minute). The sugar prevents the almonds from turning into mousse.

Mix the ground almonds with flour and baking powder.

Add vanilla, lemon juice and lemon zest to the melted butter and mix well. Now pour the butter-mixture into the flour-mixture and stir until it comes together. Add the eggs, one at a time, and stir until everything is well combined.

Preheat your oven to 180°C (hot air oven / convection oven works best!).

Line your tin with parchment paper and pour the cake mixture into it. Spread it evenly by shaking the tin back and forth.

Now sprinkle LOTS of your favourite fruits all over the cake mixture.

Bake the cake for 30 minutes, until slightly golden on top. Don’t bake too long or else it will become dry.

Remove from the oven and let it sit for some time. Cut it into squares and serve with some icing sugar dusted on top.

Recipe is inspired by Caroline Bretherton's Allotment Cookbook through the year.

Lemon Tarte with Meringue

Lemon tarte with meringue is my no. 1! But it was not love at first sight. I mean, come on.. lemons! They are tasty, of course, but sour. And I’ve got a sweet tooth, definitely! I was sure we would never make a good match.
But then fate took its course. My relationship with lemon tartes started some years ago, when I entered a coffee house in Vienna and desperately wanted to eat cake. I did not have much money with me, so I had to take what I could afford and that was one cup of coffee and a piece of lemon tarte. You can imagine the rest.
Lemon tarte is not cheap when shop-bought, so I thought why not making my own. I was pretty nervous because of the grilled meringue, but it turned out so well and I could eat so much of it without spending much money. Besides, baking the tarte fills the whole flat with a sweet lemon aroma. Nice side-effect!

Here’s my recipe for a home-made version. I never add too much sugar to my sweets, so if you want it sweeter, then feel free to alter the recipe the way you like it. You just need to add more sugar to the pastry and the lemon filling.

Sweet shortcrust pastry

• 125 grams of butter at room temperature 
• 70 grams caster sugar, sieved 
• 50 grams ground almonds 
• 250 grams flour, sieved 
• 1 egg (50 grams) at room temperature

Beat butter, sugar and ground almonds and gradually add the sieved flour until well combined. Add the egg and knead until well combined (if the dough is too firm, add some splashes of water). Form the dough into a ball and refrigerate for about 1 hour (or until needed).

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees.
Remove the dough from the fridge and roll it out. Lay your tarte tin with it, prick it with a fork, line with parchment paper and pour your baking beans over it. Bake in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes, remove from the oven and remove baking beans and parchment paper.

Lemon filling

• 3 lemons
• 100 grams of butter at room temperature 
• 1-2 tbsp honey
• 15 grams of corn starch
• 3 eggs at room temperature

Zest one of your lemons and squeeze the juice of all 3 lemons. Melt butter and honey in a saucepan on a low heat, then add the lemon zest and juice to it and let it cook over a medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat.

Whisk the 3 eggs with the corn starch and add to the butter-lemon-mixture. Mix well until smooth.

Preheat your oven to 160 degrees. Spread the lemon-mixture over the baked tarte and bake in the oven for 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

Meringue

• 25 grams of caster sugar (or icing sugar), sieved
• 3 egg whites

Whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks, then start to add the sugar gradually. Whisk until stiff.
Preheat your oven to 180 degrees (grill option).
Fill a piping bag with the meringue and pipe big dots on the surface of the tarte, so that they cover the surface of the tarte completely. Grill in the oven for about 1-2 minutes (or longer) until slightly coloured.