Small Batch Cheesecake

These days, the name of the game is adaptation. There’s very very little we can do about our circumstances, and so many of us have turned our attention to things that we can control. I’m also aware that I am privileged that I have a job that is seamlessly adaptable to a working from home arrangement, as is my husband’s, and so managing our cash has been quite ok. I am very aware that there are many more out there who are unable to cover the costs of a quarantine, and my husband and I are assisting in any small way that we are able.

For those like me who are cooking and baking to kill the time or distract ourselves from reality, a lot of our conversations have been around adapting to lack of ingredients or to scaling recipes down to minimise waste. I’ve been baking a lot of bread lately, never realised how much bread we consume at home until I’m at home all the time. So what that means is I’ve been using a lot of flour.

But last weekend I wanted to bake something sweet, a favoured dessert in our home, a Rizberry Cheesecake! Few things went against me: I don’t have digestives at home, I only had 1 block of cream cheese and could not get any at the store on my weekly run (and I’m not about to go to multiple shops to look for it), and I’m rationing my calorie intake so I don’t want a full 9″ cheesecake in my house.

So 2 things: I decided to finally try to make some homemade graham crackers (cos even if I go to the store, they don’t sell those in Malaysia), and I attempted some very complicated math to try and make a smaller cake. Also, my sister in law who lives 2 streets over had a block of cream cheese to spare! So it’s a go!

Raspberry Lemon Cheesecake

Biscuit base:

• 130g graham crackers, processed into crumbs (or pounded with a rolling pin in a bag)
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• 45g unsalted butter, melted

Cheesecake filling:

• 450g cream cheese, softened
• 100g granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
• 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 1/4 cup frozen raspberries

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C, and line a 9×5″ loaf tin with parchment paper with an overhang for ease of pulling out the cake later
2. Prepare the biscuit base: mix the graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter in a bowl then press into the bottom of the prepared tin. Bake this in the preheated oven for 20ish minutes
3. Prepare the filling: In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and granulated sugar and it’s loosed and much lighter, about 4-5 minutes
4. Add the egg and beat to incorporate properly
5. Add the vanilla, lemon juice and lemon zest and beat again for a shorter time just to ensure it’s all mixed it
6. Place the raspberries onto the baked crust, then pour the cheesecake filling over top. I added a few more raspberries on top, shoved them in with the back of my spoon and then did a swirly pattern because I felt like it
7. Bake the cheesecake for 45 minutes, or until it jiggles gently when you shake and a skewer inserted in the center doesn’t come out wet. Crumbs are fine, just not liquid.
8. Remove from the oven, let it cool on a wire rack, then cover and let it chill and set in the fridge for 4 hours or overnight. Remove the cheesecake from the fridge when ready to eat, then slice and serve with more raspberries, a raspberry sauce, or nothing at all and it’s all good!