I agree with Yotam Ottolenghi about cheesecakes – baked is always the best. So when he described this set cheesecake in glowing terms, he piqued my interest. He wasn’t wrong – absolutely delicious!
Before you start this cake, place 500g (17½ oz) of Greek style yoghurt in a clean cloth, tie it together and hang it over a bowl or sink. Allow it to drain until it’s about ⅔ of it’s original size – this will take at least a few hours, ideally overnight. Next, line a 23cm (9″) springform cake tin with greaseproof or baking paper. The original recipe calls for Hobnob biscuits (a kind of digestive made with oats) but since I’m in Australia I went local and used Anzac biscuits. They are probably a lot sweeter and crunchier than Hobnobs but they worked brilliantly. Finely crush 200g of your chosen biscuit either in a food processor or by putting them into a plastic bag and bashing them with a rolling pin. Mix them with 60g of butter and 1 tablespoon of fresh thyme leaves and press this mixture into the base of the cake tin. Chill in the fridge while you make the filling. Whisk together 400g (14 oz) of full-fat cream cheese, the strained yoghurt, 40g (1.4 oz) of sieved icing sugar and 1 teaspoon of finely grated lemon zest. Melt 150g (5.3 oz) of white chocolate in a double boiler. Make sure that the bowl doesn’t touch the simmering water below and that you don’t get any moisture into the chocolate – white chocolate is very temperamental. Whisk the melted chocolate into the cream cheese mixture then spread it evenly on the biscuit base. Chill in the fridge for at least two hours or even overnight to set. Warm 60g (2.1 oz) of honey with 2 teaspoons of fresh thyme leaves until just runny. Remove the cake from the fridge and the tin and drizzle the honey over the top of the cake.
michelle picker cooks 