Mum’s Lemon Cheesecake

Base:
80g Butter
60g Demerara Sugar
180g Digestive Biscuits

Topping:
Grated rind & Juice of 1 Lemon
150g Philadelphia Cream Cheese
50g Icing Sugar
Just under 150ml cold milk
1 packet Dream Topping

Method:

1. Base:
   Put digestive biscuits in a polythene bag. Hold top shut and pummel seven bells out of them with a rolling pin until they are reduced to crumbs.
   Heat butter and Demerara sugar gently in a saucepan until the butter is melted and the sugar dissolved.
   Add biscuit crumbs to melted butter & sugar and stir until fully absorbed.
   Transfer the contents of the saucepan to a cake tin with a removable bottom (about 7.5 to 8.5 inches in diameter. Flatten out/tamp down the mixture with whatever comes to hand (I use the same rolling pin, end on).
2. Topping:
   Grate rind from 1 lemon. Extract juice from the same lemon.
   In a bowl mix together, using a wooden spoon, the Philadelphia Cheese, the icing sugar, lemon rind and lemon juice until smooth & creamy (no lumps).
   Pour into the bowl of an electric mixer the milk (to get the quantity right, I measure out 150ml and take a sip out of it!), and sprinkle the contents of the packet of Dream Topping on, then whisk (using the whisk attachment) until thick and creamy (when you lift out the whisk the mixture just holds its shape).
   Fold the lemony cheese mixture into the Dream Topping mixture by hand, using a spoon (wood or metal) until combined (not a heavy-handed mixing jobbie).
3. Assemble:
   Remove Base from fridge, add Topping, smooth top with a spoon, then give the whole tin a couple of bangs on the work surface to level everything out.
   Return completed cheesecake to fridge to set for a few hours (or days, as required).

Variations (if required)
Once set, cover top with a thin layer of blackcurrant jam; or
decorate with a few cut strawberries; or
drain a tin of mandarin oranges and make a pretty pattern on the top with them; or
grate some chocolate curls & sprinkle over………..

Thanks to Chris Robins.