This was my first time making a full cheesecake ever, so I am glad I am able to share this experience with you. I did make lemon tarts that used a cheesecake base- so you can check that recipie out! A gift I adore doing for all of my loved ones on their birthday is making their favorite treat or mixing things that they like to create a dessert. For this specific gift, I was told that my friend enjoys the tangy but fruity desserts. With this combination I figured either a key lime pie or a variety of cheesecake. I settled for, obviously, a lemon-raspberry cheesecake and it was a total hit! The texture was like velvet and such a nice balance of sweet and tart with a well deserving textural bite from the crust to finish it off. 

What I did well

I am proud to say that the cheesecake came out absolutely fantastic, especially for my first and only (to this point) attempt. It is imperative to use room temperature ingredients just like the majority of recipes, but especially with cheesecake. If you use any ingredient that is colder than the rest this can lead to your batter being lumpy.  The batter looked like ribbons after all the ingredients were well combined. 

Overall, I am delighted by the taste of this recipe. As I said prior, it has a perfect balance of the sweetness of the fruit and tang from the cream cheese and tartness of the lemon. Please see below for the measurements that I used and which recipes I adapted my alterations from. 

What I can improve for next time

Although I love the style of the lemon-raspberry compote swirl on top of the cheesecake, next time I attempt this recipe I will be sure to make the swirls of the raspberry compote not as deep as I did in this attempt. This made the cake crack and not look as flush. I could even fold the compote into the batter rather than breaking the tension on the surface. Another solution is to pour the compote to fill the top of the cheesecake to have uniformity. My next “improvement” or rather this is a preference but the shortbread crust was a bit hard. Personally, I did not mind putting in the extra force although it was easy to eat!

How to make this at home

I want to preface with making cheesecake. There will be many recipes that call for it to be baked in a waterbath. This is an amazing method that allows the cake to come to temperature gently and back down after the cake was baked. I opted out of this method to bake the cake for one reason : I do not currently own a vessel to hold the water and the pan filled with batter simultaneously. I know it is silly but I am still building my kitchen like many of you may be!

In addition are a few notes that I would like to add that are not recipe specific, they are added with an asterisk and explained in detail at the end of the directions. 

• Gather your ingredients and weigh them out placing them in separate containers (unless you know all of the dry goods are going in the batter at the same time, I tend to weigh them and add it into the combined container) ** if you have a slow heating oven please preheat your oven at this point ** If you feel like your eggs are taking forever to warm up, crack the eggs together in a separate container with a lid and place a towel around the lidded container. 
• Make the crust: This is a shortbread crust which is simple and versatile! You can always use a traditional graham cracker crust in place of the shortbread but I thought the flavors would be elevated with the shortbread crust. 
• Add the crust measurement of flour and salt, combine until mixed evenly. Add water until the dough is in a uniform mixture.
• Shape into the springform pan, using a fork puncture holes around the crust like a spiral. This is done so the crust will not inflate too much causing an uneven surface for the cheesecake.  Chill the dough for 15 minutes to hydrate the flour. You can also make the crust ahead to save you some time!

While you are waiting for the crust to chill…

• Cream the butter, sugar, and cream cheese until fluffy **When making cheesecake it is imperative to use full fat cream cheese and butter. If you opt out of this it will affect the texture and taste. My personal preference with cream cheese is Philadelphia.

• After the fats and sugars are combined, add the eggs one at a time until just combined. **you do not want to overmix at this stage since it bursts all the air you created in the batter and ends up impacting the texture of your cheesecake. 
• **Place the chilled dough into the oven to par bake the dough**

• Once the eggs are combined, sift in your dry ingredients. 

To prevent your kitchen from looking like it just snowed, place a towel over your stand mixer or bowl and pulse the dry ingredients in. 

• Allow the batter to rest so the flavors can get to know each other. Whatever duration you have left on your crust + cooling time is an ample amount of time for the batter. 
• Place the batter into the par baked crust and bake for 55 to 60 minutes or until the outside of the cake is firm and the center jiggles. 
• Turn off the oven and allow the cheesecake to finish baking with the residual heat. Approximately 1 hour. 
• Place the cheesecake on a wire rack and allow it to finish cooling. Once the cake is cooled, wrap the cake and place in the refrigerator overnight.  
• Take it out of the tin and enjoy! 

This recipe was adapted from Umami Girl and Creme del la Crumb:

Raspberry Topping:

• 6 ounces (166 grams) raspberries
• 2 tablespoons (25 grams) sugar

Filling:

• 2 pounds (907 grams) cream cheese
• 1 ⅓ cups (266 grams) sugar
• 4 eggs
• ¼ cup (59 ml) heavy cream
• ¼ cup (60 grams) sour cream
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

Shortbread Crust:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter – chilled and cut into small cubes
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice 
• Lemon Zest from ½ lemon