Cheesecake, with curd cheese and lots of lemon

Cheesecake, with curd cheese and lots of lemon I'm back from a very relaxing weekend in Cambridge, which means that nothing was cooked in my Edinburgh kitchen during the last few days. I did help my host to cook a buffet lunch for ~20 yesterday, but I was too occupied to even think about taking out my camera. Hence this recipe and photo of a lemon & curd cheese cake I made more than a few weeks ago. I've posted a recipe for a lemony curd cheese cake before, but this is a very different cake altogether. With its dense texture and intense lemon flavour and scent, it cuts beautifully and would be perfect for early summer picnics.

Lemony curd cheese cake
(Sidruni-kohupiimakook)
Very slightly adapted from the April 2006 issue of Olive
Serves 8 or more



150 grams butter, softened
175 grams caster sugar
2 to 3 juicy lemons (depending on your taste), juiced and zested
3 medium eggs
250 grams low-fat milk curd cheese or ricotta
125 grams plain flour
2 tsp baking powder

Cream the soft butter with caster sugar until pale and fluffy. Add egg yolks, one at a time, whisking thoroughly each time.
Mix in lemon juice, grated zest and curd cheese. Sift in flour and baking powder and mix the dough until combined.
Whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form, then fold into the dough, little by little.
Pour the dough into a buttered and floured 20 cm cake tin.
Bake in the middle of 180C oven for 40-50 minutes, until the cake has risen and is lovely golden brown.
Let it cool for an hour in the tin before cutting into pieces and serving.

PS If you like raisins, then this cake would happily accommodate some. Maybe soaked in some rum or lemon liqueur beforehand?