Ingredients:
2 blocks (500g) of Philadelphia Cream Cheese (full fat, lower fat versions are awful)
250g Creme Fraiche (or sour cream if you can’t find it, again full fat not low fat)
4 Eggs
50g Butter
200g Almond Meal
2 Vanilla Beans (the flavour)
60g Natvia (Erythritol Sweetener)
1tsp Cinnamon Powder
Process: Preheat the oven to 180C
Step 1: Make the base, melt the butter, and combine it with the cinnamon and almond meal. Press this into a 20cm base spring form tin liberally greased with butter or sprayed with coconut oil spray. Next, bake the base for about 10 minutes in the oven, remove and then put in the freezer to chill while making the rest of the cake.
Step 2: In a mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth. If its not smooth, scrape the bowl sides and keep beating it until it is or else the cake will have lumps of cream cheese through it which is nasty.
Step 3: Scrape the vanilla bean seeds from the pods and add to the cream cheese mixture and mix in well until the seeds are evenly mixed.
Step 4: Add the Natvia and the creme fraiche, and mix well, it will begin looking like a tasty ice cream … oh, yeah … taste it now and make sure its sweet enough for you, it should be but if its not, add some more Natvia until its your preferred sweetness. (60g seems like the ideal spot for everyone who has tried it though).
Step 5: Add the eggs and beat for the shortest amount of time it will take to mix through well with no eggs streaking the mixture, don’t overmix it. Now, take the base out of the freezer, spray the sides with coconut oil spray or butter again, and pour in the mixture. Add a tray of water to the oven (which should be 180C) and put the cake in to bake.
Step 6: Bake for 45 minutes, and no longer. Yes, it will look wobbly and unset, but trust me you are cutting this cake any time soon. Allow the cake to rest on a rack (in the tin) until it is room temperature. Once room temperature, carefully remove the side of the tin, and using a spatula carefully separate the base from the tin and slide it onto a plate. Now refrigerate the cake overnight preferably before slicing.
I always slice mine into 16 pieces with a thin knife wiped and dipped in water between each cut to ensure it doesn’t drag the cake with it.
The flavour of this cheesecake can be modified a number of ways, replace the vanilla with the juice of one (or two) lemons for a baked lemon cheesecake, or use unsweetened cocoa (not chocolate) in addition to the vanilla bean for a chocolate cheesecake. You can modify this a number of ways to suit you.
Servings 16, Serving size 80g,
Nutrition info (per serving): Protein 7.2g, Fat 26.3g, Carbohydrate 1.8g, Sodium 152mg
