Lemony Love

If you're looking for a scrumptious pud to impress your love this valentine's, have a go at this delectable Baked Lemon Cheesecake.

First, weigh out 250g of biscuits. I usually use digestive biscuits, but you could use anything really, depending on how you want your base to be. You could use ginger nuts to add more flavor, or hobnobs for a crunchier base.

Put your chosen biscuits into a food bag and use a rolling pin to bash (yes, this is the technical term!) the biscuits until they resemble fine breadcrumbs.

Et voile! They should look like this. This can be done in a food processor (if you have one) as crunching manually does take a while.

Now weigh 100g butter and melt on a low heat, taking care not to let it burn.

Once your butter is lovely liquid gold, pour into your biscuit crumbs and give it a good mix around until all the crumbs are well coated.

Reserve a little of your melted butter to spread around the bottom of a 23cm spring form cake tin. Cut out a circle of greaseproof paper and stick this on top of your buttery glue. This will make it easier to get your cheesecake out when it is cooked. Now spoon your mixture into the tin and use the back of a metal spoon to compress and smooth the biscuits.

I then baked my base in the oven at 15o for 10 minutes to crisp it up a bit. Alternatively, you could chill in the fridge until you have prepared your cheesecake mixture. Now, assemble the troops!

You will need: 1 tub of mascarpone (250g), 2 tubs of cream cheese (600g), 3 eggs, 175g of caster sugar, 4 tbsp of plain flour, the zest of 2 lemons and the juice of 1.

Now, combine the ingredients using an electric whisk. Use the lowest setting possible and whizz until smooth but still thick. Take care not to over-whisk as the mixture can become too watery.

If you have cooked your base, leave it to cool completely before pouring the cheesecake mixture into the cake tin and giving it a little wiggle so it settles.

Bake your cheesecake in your pre-heated oven for 45mins-1 hour. I checked mine after 45 mins and the middle wasn't quite set so I let it have the full hour. It should still have a little movement but be solid throughout.

Tada! You can top your finished desert with a little lemon curd, which can be used to fill any cracks that might occur during the cooling period. Make sure it is completely cool before you start to top it. Your cheesecake can be topped with any kind of fresh fruit, but blueberries and raspberries are particularly nice!

No matter what, you're sure to have a lot of fun making it, as well as putting a smile on that special person's face.