Cheesecake with berries

Ingredients

For the pastry

• 100 g butter
• 50 g sugar
• 1–2 tablespoons milk or cream
• a round baking tin, 26–28 cm in diameter

For the filling

• 800 g curd cheese (9% fat)
• 500 g cream cheese
• 3 eggs
• 200 g sugar
• Zest of 1 lemon or lime
• 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar
• 2 tablespoons potato starch
• a pinch of salt

To serve

• raspberries (fresh or frozen) or other berries of your choice
• icing sugar for dusting
• mint leaves (optional)

Method

1. Prepare the shortcrust pastry for the base. Grate the butter on a coarse grater or cut it into small pieces. Sprinkle with the flour and sugar and rub the mixture with your fingertips until it resembles coarse crumbs. Add the milk or cream to the butter, sugar and flour mixture, quickly knead the pastry and shape it into a ball. The pastry should be soft and pliable. If it is too dry and cracks, knead in a little more milk or cream.
2. Roll out the pastry between two sheets of baking parchment to form a circle. If using a tin with a removable base, the pastry can be pressed directly into the tin. If using a tin without a removable base, line it with baking parchment, smoothing the edges as neatly as possible. Press the pastry into the tin so that it forms a pastry case. Cover with cling film and place in the refrigerator to rest for 30 minutes.
3. Meanwhile prepare the cheese filling. Finely grate the lemon zest. In a large bowl, blend all the filling ingredients until smooth. Do not whisk the mixture too much — if too much air is incorporated, the surface of the cake may crack during baking.
4. Preheat the oven to 180 °C. Prick the base of the pastry case with a fork and lightly dust with flour. Line with baking parchment and fill with dried peas or beans so that the pastry does not puff up while baking. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes.
5. Remove the tin from the oven and carefully lift off the baking parchment. Tip the peas or beans into a heatproof bowl to cool. Pour the cheese mixture into the pastry case, smooth the surface and return it to the oven. Bake for about 1 hour, or up to 10 minutes longer if needed. Check occasionally to ensure that the top is not browning too much. If the top already looks done but the centre is still too soft, cover the cake with a sheet of foil and continue baking. The centre of the finished cake may still be slightly soft — it will set as it cools.
6. Allow the cake to cool and decorate it. It can be served slightly warm or fully cooled. In winter, frozen berries can be used for decoration; thaw them for about 30 minutes before serving. Fresh strawberries or blueberries can also be used. Frozen strawberries are best blended with sugar and spooned over slices of cake as a sauce.