Lemon Meringue Cheesecake

Crust:

Filling:

Lemon curd:

OR

Swiss meringue:

Crust:
Preheat oven to 180°C. Spray 20cm springform pan with non-stick spray or line with baking paper.

Add butter to crushed biscuits and mix. Press onto base and up sides of springform pan.

Place on baking sheet. Bake for 8 - 10 minutes and remove from oven. Leave to cool.

Filling:
Increase oven temperature to 230°C.

Wrap the pan with the prepared crust in foil to make it watertight. Place the pan in another bigger pan or into a deep baking tray. Fill with 1 cm boiling water. (This will prevent the cheesecake from cracking).

Beat cream cheese with electric beater until creamy and smooth.

Add castor sugar and cake flour and mix. Add eggs one at a time. Add sour cream, lemon juice and lemon zest and mix well.

Pour onto prepared crust and bake for 10 minutes.

Turn temperature down to 110°C and bake for further 30 minutes.

Switch oven off and leave to cool in oven (for at least 2 hours).

Lemon curd:
Combine castor sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest and butter in saucepan. Stir over medium heat until sugar has melted.

Beat egg and egg yolks in separate bowl. Add small amounts of the warm mixture to sugar and butter mixture while stirring continuously.

Pour back into saucepan and stir continuously over low heat until mixture starts to thicken – it will cover the back of a spoon if it’s ready. Do not let it boil.

Cool before use. If you need it to cool quickly, spread over a flat baking sheet that’s been cooled in the freezer.

Swiss meringue:
Beat egg whites and castor sugar in a heatproof bowl. Place bowl over saucepan of boiling water – bowl should not touch water.

Beat for 5 - 7 minutes until thick. Transfer to cool bowl and beat for further 3 - 5 minutes to cool down.

To assemble:
Spread lemon curd over cooled cheesecake and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Spoon or pipe meringue over lemon curd layer and brown lightly with kitchen blow torch.

Recipe adapted from Valerie Slabbert, finalist of LANCEWOOD Cake-Off® 2016.