A Brilliant Lemon Cheesecake (and a Lemon Mousse)

I must confess - it's been a while since I made this cake. But it's been suddenly popping up on various Estonian foodblogs recently, so I thought I'll 'reclaim' it :D The original recipe was in BBC Good Food, but I've tweaked it a little.

In general, there are cheesecakes you bake and cheesecakes you set with gelatine. This one is neither - but yet it sets beautifully overnight - as long as you use good-quality cream cheese and a good-quality condensed milk (sweetened, of course). The consistency is beautifully creamy, almost mousse-like.

If you don't feel like making a cake, make the topping anyway. It makes a delicious lemon mousse of its own right (see the photo below).

Lemon Mousse Cheesecake
(Hõrk sidrunikreemitort)
Serves 8



Base:
100 g Divestive biscuits (about 10)
50 g butter, melted
2 Tbsp sugar (optional)

Lemon Mousse Topping:
200 g cream cheese
400 g sweetened condensed milk
200 ml whipping cream, whipped
juice of 2-3 lemons (+ finely grated lemon zest, if you want a more pronounced lemon flavour)

Place the cookies into the bowl of your food processor and process until you've got fine crumbs. Stir in melted butter and sugar, if using. Press onto the base of Ø 24 cm springform tin.
Cream the cheese with a wooden spoon until soft, then stir in the condensed milk and lemon juice (+ zest, if using). Finally fold in the whipped cream.
Pour the filling over the Digestive base, smooth the top.
Place into the fridge to set for at least 12 hours (24 hours, if possible).
To serve, transfer the cake gently onto a serving plate and cut into slices.