Baked Cheesecake with Pomegranate compote

About the recipe

Christmas means lots of cake, cup cakes and muffins. To celebrate this christmas I am sharing a beautiful baked cheese cake with pomegranate toppings. It is not only super delicious to eat but also very attractive to enjoy during this festive season.

Recipe

Preparation time: 20 mins (+ 2 hours chilling & 2 hours cooling time)
Cooking time: 1 hour
Serves: 12
Difficulty level: easy

Ingredients for the crust

250g digestive biscuits/marie biscuits
120g butter, melted

Ingredients for the cheesecake

400g cream cheese, at room temperature
300g sour cream( you can use hung card also)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tbs plain flour
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tbs lemon juice

Ingredients of Pomegranate compote

Arils from 1 big pomegranates
1 Tbsp orange zest
1/2 of an orange (juice only)
1 tsp dry ginger powder
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tbsp honey

For garnishing

Icing sugar as required
Pistachios as required
Few mint leaves

Procedure

Grease and line the base of a 20cm springform pan. Also grease the sides.

Process biscuits in a food processor until finely crushed.

Melt butter in a microwave or in a pan.

4.Add the melted butter to biscuit crumbs and process until well combined.

Spoon into prepared pan.

Use your hand or a back of a glass to spread and press over the base
and sides.This will be the crust of your cheesecake.

Place in fridae for 30 minutes to chill. In the meantime prepare the cheese filling.

Use an electric mixer to beat cream cheese and granulated sugar in a bowl until smooth.

Add flour, vanilla, lemon zest and lemon juice. Beat until combined.

Add sour cream. Beat again to mix nicely.

Add the eggs. Beat until just combined.

Cheese mixture is ready now to use.

Take out the chilled crust from the refrigerator.

Pour the cheese mixture into the chilled base. With the back of a spoon smooth the top and tap the pan 3-4 times to set the chesse mixture into the base and to.remove any air bubbles.

Preheat oven at 150 degree C for 10 minutes.

Place pan on a baking tray. Bake for 1 hour or until just set. Turn oven off. Cool in oven, with door little open, for an hour.

When the cake cools down to room temperature, take out from the oven. It will be light golden brown from the top.

Place the cheesecake in the refrigerator to chill.

In the meantime make the compote.

Take out arils from a pomegranate.

Place the arils to a pan, add in grated orange zest, orange juice, ginger powder, honey and sugar.

Cook the mixture in low heat for 6-7 minutes or until sugar dissolves and the mixture becomes thick and glossy. I also added 2-3 frozen rasberries to enhance the colour and flavour. It’s just optional ingredient to add in.