A few people asked for Valerie Slabbert’s Lancewood Cake-off entry, so here it is. At the end there are instructions on how to bake them as small, individual cupcakes. “The last couple of weeks I baked about 400 of the small ones and I still get a kick out of using my blow torch every time!”
PASTRY
300 g biscuits (Digestive or Tennis biscuits)
150 g butter
FILLING
1 kg (4 x 250 g tubs) full-cream cream cheese
200 g castor sugar
45 ml (3 T) cake flour
4 eggs
250 ml (1 c) sour cream
200 ml lemon juice
grated rind of 2 lemons
LEMON CURD
200 g castor sugar
200 ml lemon juice
grated rind of 2 lemons
100 g butter
3 eggs
ITALIAN MERINGUE
310 g castor sugar
80 ml (1/3 c) water
4 egg whites
pinch of cream of tartar
Preheat oven to 180 °C.
1. Pastry Grease and line a springform pan with baking paper.
Crumble the biscuita (I use a food processor, it’s very fast – otherwise you can roll it in a plastic bag, this way you don’t make a mess in the kitchen).
2. Add the butter and microwave it for about 2 minutes till melted.
3. Press the pastry down in the bottom of the pan. Bake for 10 minutes and increase the oven‘s temperature to 230 °C.
4. Filling Beat the cream cheese, castor sugar and cake flour together till soft and creamy.
5. Add the eggs one at a time and scrape the edges of the mixing bowl after each addition.
6. Add the sour cream, lemon juice and lemon rind and stir till soft.
7. Bake at 230 °C for 10 minutes. Lower the temperature to 110 °C and bake for a further 30 minutes till done.
8. Leave the cake to cool down in the oven for about 2 hours.
9. Lemon curd Heat the lemon juice, castor sugar, lemon rind and butter in a pot on the stove at medium heat and stir till the sugar and butter have melted.
10. Whip the eggs in a separate bowl. Add the warm mixture slowly to the whipped eggs, stirring all the time to keep the eggs from cooking.
Pour the mixture back into the pot on the stove and stir till it thickens. It is ready if it covers the back of a metal spoon.
11. Italian meringue: Stir the castor sugar and water over medium heat till the sugar melts. Increase temperature and bring to boil.
12. Whip the egg whites and cream of tartar to reasonably stiff.
13. Boil the syrup to 115 °C. If you don’t have a thermometer, boil it till it’s a clear syrup that makes big bubbles.
14. Add the boiling syrup to the egg whites while mixing with electric mixer. Beat it at high speed for about 5 minutes till shiny and cloudy (it will have the texture of a marshmallow).
15. Spread the lemon curd over the cheesecake.
Squirt the Italian meringue with a piping bag over the cheesecake, or spread it with a metal spoon. Scald with a blow torch or put under the oven’s grill for 3 minutes if you don’t have a blow torch.
16. Dig in!
Tip: For individual portions, press the pastry in cup cake pans and bake for 10 minutes. Add the cheesecake mixture to nearly full and bake for 20 minutes at 165 °C. Finish off like for big cake.
