I’ve made tons* of cheesecakes, but never as a tray bake. I’m sure this mixture would taste as good in a normal round tin, but having a square shape made it easy to cut for sharing.

(* No, they’re not that heavy, honestly.)

Makes: Entirely up to you. The photos show 20 pieces and that was an OK size for the occasion – sharing after church.

Time: 40 – 50 min. hands on and prep, then 50 – 60 min. baking, followed by cooling time and another 10 min. to decorate.

Level: Fairly easy

Equipment: A 20cm/8” square tin with deep sides. One with a removable bottom would be good, but not essential.

Ingredients for the base

250g/9oz biscuits (e.g. shortbread or digestives or Graham crackers in US)
100g/3½oz butter
50g/1¾oz golden syrup (US – Corn syrup ??)
50g/1¾oz dried apples (optional – can be replaced with more biscuits or oat bran/meal)

Ingredients for the cake

500g/1lb 2oz full fat cream cheese (or Mascarpone)
250g/9oz Ricotta
250g/9oz caster sugar
3 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp cornflour (US – cornstarch, I think)
2 Tbsp apricot jam (optional)
Some sprinkles or just dust with icing sugar

Method

1. Line the inside of the tin with a double layer of baking parchment. If possible cut the paper so that it sits a little higher than the sides of your tin.

2. Whizz the biscuits in a food processor until crumb-like. Add the dried apples (if using) and whizz again, briefly. Melt the butter and pour over the biscuits then mix together.

3. Press the mixture into the base, using the back of a spoon or a plastic dough scraper. Heat the oven to 170°C/ fan 150°C/ 325°F/ Gas 3. Bake the base for 15 min. (NB many cheesecake recipes simply tell you to chill the base for half an hour. Yes, that will work, but I prefer the firmer, crunchier texture that baking gives.)

4. To make the filling, pulse or lightly beat the cream cheese, Ricotta, and sugar until smooth. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and beat again briefly. (It just needs to be smooth, without whisking in lots of air.)

5. Mix the cornflour with a little of the mixture so there are no lumps then stir this back into the main mixture.

6. Spoon or pour the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth the top. Tap the tin a couple of times on your work surface to release any air pockets.

7. Bake for 50 – 60 minutes. Check at 45. It needs to be setting around the edges, possibly pulling away from the sides, but still a little wobbly in the middle. Turn the oven off and leave the door slightly open with the cheesecake inside until it has cooled.

8. You could cut the cooled cheesecake now, before adding any topping items, or do it afterwards.

9. One option for topping is to brush the cooled cheesecake with warm apricot jam then add sprinkles. Or just add the sprinkles without the jam. Or just add the jam. Or just dust with icing sugar before serving. (If you do it any earlier it will disappear into the cheesecake) I’m spoiling you with all these choices.

NB I fancied having dried apple pieces in the base, but couldn’t find any in the local supermarket, so I decided to dry some myself. It’s actually quite easy. Here’s how:

Line a baking tray and turn your oven on to a medium temperature. Core two or three large eating apples. Slice them fairly thinly. (no need to be neat or precise.) Brush them with butter or a mixture of butter and cinnamon or ginger. Place on the lined tray and put into the oven for about 2 hours. (Check at 90 min.). Turn the oven off but leave them in there until crispy. Bash, chop or whizz them into whatever size pieces you want.

I hope you enjoy this cheesecake. If you want to see more cheesecake recipes click here. Or here for more tasty traybake recipes. I’ll put a few examples below for you to have a look at and maybe try.

Also, please visit my site for other recipes, sweet and savoury.

Chocolate and Orange Cheesecake