Key Lime Cheesecake 青檸芝士蛋糕

It this a pie? Is this a bar? No, it is actually key lime cheesecake in the form of a pie. How does that come about? I can assure you it is not intentional. The fact is, I have too little filling to fill up the whole crust; my only grouse for this trial. I have since rectified this in the ingredients section. You should be able to find the corrected amount if you follow this recipe.

Now, this is one simple cheesecake. Simply because it does not require any additional creams, milk nor chocolates. Just cream cheese, eggs and key limes, a very good solution when you are in need of a quick cheesecake fix. The sweetness of the cheesecake is well balanced with the tartness of the lime juice. And the zest adds an oh-so-divine citrusy fragrance even before you bite into that luscious piece. When it comes to a tart cheesecakes, I am sold even at mere thoughts. I apologise if I sounded a bit biased.

For the crust, I used digestive biscuits. I like the slight hint of alkaline that balances well with the tartness of the filling. If you do not like digestives, you could replace with graham crackers, marie biscuits or even Oreo for a sweeter alternative.

Key Lime Cheesecake 青檸芝士蛋糕

Makes a 9 inch cheesecake

Ingredients

230 g digestive biscuit (aprox 15 pcs)
110 g butter, melted

Filling

500 g cream cheese, room temperature
120 g sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch
3 tbsp key lime juice or to taste *
3 tsp lime zest + 1/tsp for garnishing
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
1 lime, sliced for garnishing


Cooking Instruction

1. Prepare crust. Put digestive biscuits into food processor and pulse until biscuit becomes crumbly. Add melted butter while pulsing until mixture becomes sandy. Remove crumbs and pour into an 8 inch round baking pan. Press crust to the bottom and 2 inch up the side of the pan (best if you have a 2-inch height pan).

2. Bake crust in a preheated oven at 160C for 15 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, whisk cream cheese and sugar until creamy. Add eggs and yolk one at a time while continuing to cream the cheese. Then add cornstarch, lime juice and zest.

4. Pour cream cheese filling into the crust. Put cheesecake into the oven. Add a pan of boiling water on the rack below the cheesecake. Bake in preheated oven at 160C for 50-65 minutes or until the cake is set with the middle jiggly. Remove and let cool before refrigerating for at least four hours (I did mine overnight).

5. For garnish, I sprinkled the top of the cake with fresh lime zest. I also candied a few slices of lime and arrange on top of the cake. It looked pretty but I still find it a bit bitter for my taste. Therefore, if you want something more edible, I would suggest whipped cream instead. Best to serve cold.


* The tartness of the lime juice sometimes vary. 



Check out my White Chocolate Strawberry Cheesecake here: