This recipe uses rhubarb which is just coming into season in April. It is from ‘Delicious Magazine‘ and, frankly, it does what it says on the tin … it is delicious! Why not give it a go?

Ingredients

For the lemon filling

  • 100g mascarpone
  • 600g full-fat cream cheese
  • 150g golden caster sugar
  • Grated zest of 2 lemons
  • 2 tbsp plain flour
  • 3 medium free-range eggs and 2 yolks, beaten
  • 100g soured cream

For the rhubarb curd

  • 360g trimmed rhubarb, cut into 2cm pieces
  • 50g golden caster sugar, plus 1 tbsp extra to taste
  • 2 tbsp grenadine
  • 2 tbsp cornflour
  • 2 medium free-range egg yolks
  • 50g unsalted butter, melted

For the base

  • 60g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
  • 200g digestive biscuits

Preparation Method

  1. To make the rhubarb curd, mix the rhubarb, the 50g golden caster sugar and grenadine in a pan. Heat gently for about 12 minutes or until the rhubarb starts to break down. Remove and purée in a food processor, then return to the pan. Mix the cornflour with a little of the rhubarb purée from the pan to make a paste, then return to the pan, bring to the boil and bubble for a minute. Taste and, if it’s too tart, add 1 tbsp more sugar. In a bowl, whisk the yolks with the butter and rhubarb mixture. Cover and cool completely.
  2. Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan160°C/gas 4. To make the base, butter a 22cm x 9cm deep, loose-bottomed sandwich tin and line the base with a circle of baking paper. Drop the digestives into a sealable freezer bag and crush with a rolling pin to fine crumbs. Melt the butter in a saucepan, then add the crushed biscuits. Stir until well coated, then spoon over the base of the prepared sandwich tin, pressing down to ensure a firm, even layer. Chill in the fridge for 20 minutes.
  3. To make the cheesecake mixture, beat the mascarpone and cream cheese for 2 minutes with an electric hand mixer until really smooth. Add the sugar and continue to whisk for a couple of minutes more. Beat in the lemon zest and flour, followed by the beaten eggs, a little at a time, then fold through the soured cream.
  4. Spoon layers of the cheesecake mixture and rhubarb curd into the tin and ripple the top with a wooden skewer. Bake for 50 minutes until golden with a slight wobble. Turn off the oven and leave inside to cool completely. (Leaving the cheesecake in the turned-off oven will allow it to cool more slowly and should therefore stop the surface from cracking.) Carefully remove from the tin to a serving plate.
By Food