Baked Lime and Ginger Nut Cheesecake

Ginger nuts work amazingly well in this cheesecake, making a buttery and very crunchy base for the zingy, lime cream cheese filling.  It also goes without saying that the combination of ginger and lime is a classic one, it just so happens to be particularly heavenly in cheesecake form! 

It is better to make this the evening before you want to serve it, as it needs to cool down slowly in the oven, ideally overnight, then chilled.

I have topped it here with sugared, chopped pecans (see below) and a mixture of whipped double cream, soured cream and icing sugar.  These are fantastic additions but feel free to leave it undecorated, to be enjoyed in its pure cheesecake form.

 

Ingredients

200g Ginger Nut Biscuits

100g Butter, melted

400g Full Fat Cream Cheese

the zest and juice of 1 Large Lime or 2 small Limes

175g Caster Sugar

200ml Soured Cream

3 Large Eggs

 

• Blitz or bash the ginger nut biscuits to a fine crumb then stir in the melted butter and mix thoroughly.  Press these buttery crumbs evenly into a spring-form tin (approx. 22cm diameter) and chill until needed.
• Preheat the oven to 150C (fan).
• Whisk the cream cheese, lime zest, juice and caster sugar until creamy.  Then slowly whisk in the soured cream and eggs until completely combined and smooth.
• Pour the cream cheese mixture onto the ginger nut base and smooth over the surface. 
• Bake it in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, then turn the oven off, leaving the cheesecake inside (it will still have a bit of a wobble at this point).  If possible, leave it in the oven until it is completely cold, preferably overnight.  Then remove the cheesecake from the oven and chill in the fridge for at least two hours before removing it from the tin.
• Decorate the top if you wish or leave it as it is and serve with a dollop of cream.

 

Note: I prepare the pecans for the top by roughly chopping them then sizzling them for a few minutes in a frying pan with a knob of butter and a tablespoon or so of caster sugar (light brown sugar is good too).  Allow them to cool completely before using them on the cheesecake.