LANCEWOOD® BAKLAVA CHEESECAKE

Recipe Courtesy - @Lancewood

INGREDIENTS

Base:

• 200g unsalted walnuts
• 15ml - 30ml castor sugar
• 2.5ml cinnamon
• 15ml cornflour
• 40g butter, melted

Filling:

• 2 x 230g LANCEWOOD® Medium Fat Cream Cheese Plain, room temperature
• 250g LANCEWOOD® Cultured Cream, room temperature
• 4 extra large eggs
• 100g castor sugar
• 10 drops of pure vanilla extract
• Zest of small orange
• 30ml cornflour

Honey syrup:

• 60ml honey
• 30ml sugar
• 1 cinnamon stick/1 tsp cinnamon
• 4 or 5 cloves
• 3 or 4 cardamom pods
• 180ml water
• Lemon and orange juice – generous squeeze of each

Phyllo bits:

• 1 sheet phyllo pastry
• Melted butter for brushing pastry

To finish:

• 150g pistachios, chopped

METHOD

Base:

Preheat oven to 200°C. Roast walnuts for 5 minutes. Remove and leave to cool. Blitz in food processor until coarsely ground. Stir in castor sugar, cinnamon and cornflour. Add butter and mix. Double line the bottom of springform pan with baking paper. Press mixture firmly onto base. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Bake for 10 minutes. Take out of oven and leave to cool.

Filling:

Increase oven temperature to 240°C. Carefully wrap pan in foil and place in deep oven pan (see Hints & Tips ). Beat cream cheese and cultured cream until smooth. Add eggs one at a time and beat well after each addition. Add castor sugar, vanilla extract and orange zest and mix well. Sift in cornflour while beating. Pour mixture into springform pan and pour boiling water into deep oven pan up to a third of height of pan. Bake at 240°C for 10 minutes, then lower temperature to 150°C and bake for further 60 minutes. Cool in oven, opening door briefly to let out a bit of heat. Once it’s cooled completely, remove from pan and allow to chill in fridge.

Honey syrup:

Simmer all ingredients and reduce until syrup lightly coats back of a spoon. Cool completely and strain to remove cloves, cardamom and cinnamon stick.

Phyllo bits:

Take sheet of phyllo pastry and brush with butter before baking until golden brown. Crush.

To finish:

Mix pistachios and crushed phyllo pastry together. Scatter over chilled cheesecake and pour honey syrup over.