Lemon Lavender Cheesecake
For the longest time I have been wanting to include lavender in a cake, and this is my first take. Well, I made exactly the same cake for 4th of July last year. But I learned that you can't pour the fairly warm lavender jelly onto a barely set cheesecake part, without getting a clouding of the jelly layer. So no pictures, and no blog post for that try. But the taste was great, so I knew I had to revisit this cake. The lemon and lavender is a really good combination, I think I have to explore this further in the future.
Makes 4 cakes.
Ingredients:
Crust:
- 200 g shortbread cookies
- 4 tablespoons melted butter, salted
Cheese filling:
- 225 g (8oz) cream cheese
- 100 g sugar
- 6 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste
- zest of 1 lemon
- 200 ml heavy whipping cream, whipped medium soft
Lavender jelly:
- 100 ml water
- 100 g sugar
- 2 teaspoon lavender flowers (dried or fresh)
- purple food coloring, optional
- 2 sheet gelatin (just under 4 g unflavored gelatin)
Directions:
Line serving-size cake rings with cake wrap/collar.
Crust:
Crush the shortbread cookies, I used a food processor. Mix in the melted butter. In a medium bowl, mix together crumbs and melted butter until combined and crumbs are moistened. Press the mixture into the bottom of the cake ring using either your fingers or the bottom of a small glass to form a crust layer.
Cheese filing:
Whisk the heavy whipping cream until medium soft peaks, set aside.
In another bowl whisk the cream cheese with the sugar until completely smooth. Add in vanilla paste, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Using a spatula, gently fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture.
Pipe the filling into cake rings and smooth the top. Cover the cakes and place them in the freezer for 30-45 minutes or until completely set, before pouring in the lavender jelly.
Lavender jelly:
Heat water, sugar and lavender in a saucepan, while stirring. When sugar has melted, turn off the heat and let sit to steep for 5-10 minutes. Drain the lavender from the syrup, so you have a clear syrup. Add a tiny amount of food coloring to the syrup.
To make jelly. Let the gelatin bloom in some cold water for 10 minutes. (If using powder, follow the instructions on the package.) Heat the syrup and melt the gelatin in the syrup.
Pour the jelly on top of the cheesecake . You get the best result by pouring over the back of a spoon to avoid clouding the jelly with the cheesecake. Let the cakes set completely in the refrigerator before serving.
Enjoy!