As I promised, I made the baked version of my gingerbread cheesecake with lemon and white chocolate filling today. I also topped it with Italian meringue, just as the no-bake one. The result is amazing, and if you like classic baked cheesecakes you will love this one! A luxury and fresh dessert for your Christmas party!
I made this cake in a small but tall cake pan, but you can also use a 23-24 cm pan. That will give you a thinner cake but shorter time in the oven. If you use the bigger pan, you can skip the waterbath if you like. It’s nore important for a tall cake.
I am writing the recipe for a 23-24 cm pan, but if you want to use a small (15 cm) pan like me, you can just decrease the amount of meringue. I have written the new amount for small pan in parantheses.
Recipe for the best cheesecake with lemon and white chocolate filling (Pepparkakscheesecake med citron och vit choklad)
- 200 g gingerbread cookies, crushed
- 75 g salted butter, melted
- 600 g cream cheese, room temperature
- 1.5 dl sugar
- 3 eggs
- 2-3 lemons, zest
- 1 dl whipping cream
- 2 tbsp corn starch
- 150 g white chocolate, melted
- 3 egg whites (2)
- 0.5 tsp lemon juice
- 2 dl sugar (1.3)
- 1.5 dl water (1)
- 0.75 tsp vanilla sugar (0.5)
Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C.
Start with melting the chocolate so it reaches room temperature when you add it to the filling.
Grease a pan with butter and line the edges with parchment paper if you want to make it easier for you to remove the cheesecake. Cover the outer side of the pan with aluminium foil if you are going to use a waterbath (to avoid getting water in the cake),
Melt the butter, and mix the cookies in a blender. Add the butter and stir until evenly mixed. Press the cookie crumbs out on the pan and up on the edges. Bake for 10 minutes in the oven.
Whip together the sugar and cheese. Add the eggs, one by one and stir together. Mix the cornstarch with the cream and pour into the batter. Add the lemon zest and white chocolate and give it a quick stir. Dont overmix. Taste and add more lemon zest if needed.
Fill the baked crust with the batter. If you are going to use a waterbath, place the pan in another deep pan and put them both on a tray in the oven. Pour boiling water in the outer pan (at least up to half of the cakes hight). Close the oven and bake until the internal temperature reaches 63 degrees C (I baked for 1 hour 15 min, but if you bake in a bigger pan, the baking time will be shorter).
Let the cake rest in the oven with the heat off and the door slightly open for 30 min. Let cool in room temperature. Put the cake in the fridge and let chill completely for at least 8 hours.
Italian meringue topping:
Add sugar and water in a saucepan and heat on medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Keep stirring with a spoon. Once the sugar is dissolved, let boil until it reaches 121 degrees C. While you wait for it to reach the temperature, whisk your egg whites with the lemon until fluffy, around 1-2 minutes. Wait for the sugar mixture to reach the desired temperature. Stir with the spoon once in a while.
When you reach the temperature, start adding it in a slow drizzle to the egg whites while beating the egg whites with an electrix mixer. Continue mixing until the meringue forms stiff peaks. Let rest for a few minutes until it reaches room temperature.
Pipe the meringue (or spoon) out on the chilled cake. Use a kitchen blow torch to give it a nice color. Store in the fridge until serving. Enjoy!
Want to bake a delicious lemon cheesecake but don’t like gingerbread? Change the gingerbread cookies for your favourite cheesecake crust.
