Apple Crumble Baked Cheesecake

This is my go-to baked cheesecake recipe and I use it for all baked cheesecake, I've made so many adaptations of this recipe with rum and raisin cheesecake, apricot, blueberry, matcha, salted caramel...so many!! Whatever you can think of in a baked cheesecake. Go wild, my child.

For a creamy, light cheesecake, the trick is to not overbake it, I always believe in a slightly underbaked cheesecake than an overbaked one because an underbaked one would be able to set in the fridge and still turn out creamy (but able to hold its structure). How you should test it is literally wobble your tin after the 30/40-minute mark (depending on your oven) and it should be wobbly most of it except the sides of it, to ensure there's a structure. Adjust your oven temperature after this check accordingly, if it's all wobby...leave the temperature as it is to continue baking. But if it feels super unwobbly, remove foil and top it with the crumble and bake only with top heat to cook the crumble It's kinda instinctive but all except the thicker border of the cake should be wobbly. I hope this description helps? Anyway in any case, you'll still be able to have a yummy cheesecake one way or another :)

Apple topping

1 large green apple, skinned, pitted and chopped into cubes

1 tsp lemon juice

1 tbsp brown sugar

1/2 tbsp cinnamon powder

A huge splash of rum

1 tbsp melted butter

1. Melt butter in a large pan over low-medium heat.

2. Add in apples, cinnamon and brown sugar and cooked till slightly softened and lightly browned. Add lemon juice and rum, do a quick stir and then remove from heat.

Crumble

50g cold butter, cubed

100g flour

30g brown sugar

1/2 tbsp cinnamon powder

1. Mix all ingredients in a bowl with your fingers and it should look coarse and lumpy. (It is important the butter is cold so that the crumble doesn’t become a paste.)

2. Chill in fridge until ready to use.

Graham Base

200g graham crackers, finely crushed

100g butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla extract

A generous sprinkle of cinnamon and ginger powder (optional)

1. Mix all ingredients together well. It should be slightly wet looking, if the crumbs look too dry add more melted butter.

2. Using a metal spoon, flatten and smoothen the crumbs into the base and some on the sides of your 8 inch square/round tin. Set in fridge to chill.

Cream Cheese filling

500g cream cheese, room temperature

142g greek yogurt/sour cream

2 large eggs

80g sugar

1tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 175’c.

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese till soft and smooth. Then add in yogurt, sugar, lemon juice, vanilla and eggs and beat till creamy and smooth.

2. Pour mixture into baking tin, smoothen it out and lightly tap the tin on the table three times to remove air bubbles.

3. Top the batter with the cooked apples and cover with an aluminium foil and bake for 45mins. Remove foil and then top it with the crumble and continue baking for 15 minutes or until crumble is brown and crisp. The centre of the cake should still remain wobbly after the bake. Remove from oven and leave to cool before chilling it overnight in the fridge for it to set.

(if you're like me and impatient, I started eating it after 4 hours of chilling but it will be slightly unset and un-chilled but still yummy! I prefer the texture of the cake when is thoroughly chilled but everybody has their preference!)