Cheesecake with Blueberries

My Cheesecake with Blueberries has finally found its way onto my blog. As you might have guessed I could eat these scrumptious little berries in huge amounts and at more or less any time. I love it when you bite through the blue, firm skin and suddenly feel the soft, amazing texture of the fruit itself.

My cheesecake has quite a long tradition in our home in Austria even though this American style cake has only recently entered the cuisine and taste of the Austrians. I may even say that it is the favorite cake in my family.

So here we are. I have certainly lost count on the number of cakes I have already made, but I can say for sure that the recipe has changed a lot since the day I made my first cheesecake. I usually use shortbread for the crust, but it will turn out equally good with oat biscuits or graham crackers. And what is important, once you have combined the crushed biscuits with the melted butter, you must firmly press the crumbs against the bottom and the side of your tarte tin. The firmer you press the easier it will be the next day to lift a piece of cake out of the tin. The filling is prepared very easily. You just have to combine all the ingredients and whisk them until there are no lumps. As to the cream cheese, I prefer to use a brand that does not contain much salt (Philadelphia) because I don’t want the salt to be prominent. But you decide, which brand you want to use.

The cheesecake needs chilling, best to keep it in the fridge overnight so it will have plenty of time to settle and the aroma can fully develop. The blueberry topping can be made shortly before serving, though, particularly if you like it a bit juicy and not too firm, as I do.

This cheesecake recipe is one that needs baking. There will be another time when I will show you a no-bake recipe, but that’ll be another story.

Cheesecake with Blueberries

For the crust:
200 g shortbread / graham crackers / digestive biscuits
125 g (1/2 cup)butter, melted

For the cream cheese filling:
400 g cream cheese
250 g (1 cup) sour cream
2 eggs
115 g (2/3 cup) sugar
3 teaspoons cornstarch (heaped)
vanilla extract
zest of 1 lemon

For the blueberry topping:
250 g (1/2 pound) fresh blueberries
250 ml (1 cup) blueberry juice (or 100 ml blueberry syrup and 150 ml water)
2 teaspoons cornstarch (heaped)

Preheat the oven to 280°F (140°C, gas mark 2).

Crush the biscuits (e.g. in a food processor or put them into a bowl and use a pestle to crush them carefully). Melt the butter in a pan and combine the butter and the crumbs until the crumbs are well coated. Press the buttered crumbs against the bottom and the side of a tarte tin. Press very firmly, using your hand and fingers.

For the cream cheese filling combine all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk until there are no lumps. Pour the filling into the crumb coated tarte tin and bake in the oven for 50 minutes.

Allow to fully cool before putting the blueberries on top.

For the topping, put the blueberry juice into a pot, stir the cornstarch into the cold blueberry juice until fully dissolved and heat the juice, stirring constantly until it starts to bubble. Cook for another 20 seconds then remove the pot from the heat. Allow to cool a little bit. Then pour the blueberry custard on the cheesecake and put the blueberries on top.

Put the cake into the refrigerator and chill for at least four hours, best overnight. The blueberry topping can also be made on the next day, after chilling and before serving.

Enjoy! 🙂