Lemon Meringue Cheesecake

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter Sunday, we certainly did. My son, his family and my in laws came over for the day and we had a lovely day. We spent the majority of the day in the garden enjoying the abnormally hot weather we are having this Easter. Hubby prepared the leg of lamb for our roast dinner in our favourite way, using a lemon, rosemary and garlic paste that is smeared all over. I made this Lemon Meringue Cheesecake for dessert to follow. It was my first time making this cheesecake and although I cheated and used a good quality shop bought lemon curd it was an absolute hit.

The huge variety of flavours from the custard cream biscuit base, lemony & white chocolate cheesy middle and finished with a lemon curd and sweet meringue topping, came together to compliment each other perfectly. Delivering a surprisingly light and refreshing dessert to finish the meal with a stream of compliments. My in-laws loved it so much they took home a wedge for the next day!

Lemon Meringue Cheesecake

Serves 6

Ingredients
For the meringue:
3 egg whites
150g caster sugar
2-3 splashes vanilla extract

For the biscuit base and cheesecake filling:
400g packet biscuits, (custard creams)
100g butter, melted
50ml water
1 lemon, finely grated zest only
25g caster sugar, plus 1 tsp caster sugar
250g mascarpone
175ml double cream, lightly whipped
175g white chocolate, melted

For the lemon curd:
80ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
60g butter
3 egg yolks
2 whole eggs, lightly beaten
75g caster sugar

For the meringue: preheat the oven to 110C/gas 1/4. Line 1 baking tray with non-stick baking parchment and draw a 9inch circle on the baking parchment and set aside. Whisk the egg whites in a large, clean bowl until stiff but not dry, then gradually whisk in the sugar and vanilla extract to make a stiff meringue mixture. Add the meringue into onto the circle on the baking parchment, creating peaks with a fork and bake in the oven for about 2-3 hours or until crisp and dry. Remove from the oven, leave to cool, then remove from the paper.

Meanwhile, for the biscuit base and cheesecake filling: put the custard creams and melted butter in a blender or food processor and blend together until well mixed. Add the crumb mixture to the cake tin pressing down to level the surface. Set aside. Put the water, lemon zest and 1 teaspoon of sugar in a small pan and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool. In a bowl, mix together the mascarpone cheese and remaining 25g of sugar, then fold in the whipped cream. Fold half of this mixture into the melted chocolate, then fold the chocolate mixture into the remaining mascarpone mixture, together with the cooled lemon mixture, stirring well. Spoon the lemon mixture over the biscuit base, and spreading it evenly. Chill in the fridge for several hours or until set.

For the lemon curd: put the lemon juice and butter in a heavy-based pan and heat gently until the butter is melted. Whisk in the egg yolks, whole eggs and sugar and bring gently to the boil then simmer for 4-5 minutes until thickened, whisking continuously. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool. To serve, unmould the cheesecake and place on a serving plate. Smear the top of the cheesecake with the lemon curd, then arrange the meringue on top.