Creamy gluten free cheesecake
With this cheesecake there’s no messing about with water baths. You just whip up the gluten free crust, add the cheesecake filling, bake and leave it to cool slowly.
Servings 15 servings
Ingredients
Gluten free crust
- 1/3 cup sunflower seeds (60 grams)
- 1 1/2 cups gluten-free jumbo rolled oats (150 grams)
- 1/3 cup butter melted (80 ml)
- 1/4 tsp fine salt
- 50 grams coconut sugar
- 1 1/2 tbsp water or as needed
Cheesecake filling
- 550 grams cream cheese or other full-fat soft cheese
- 2/3 cup maple syrup
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp lemon zest finely grated
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 2 large eggs
- 2/3 cup sour cream
- 3 tbsp corn starch
Cheesecake topping
- 120 mls sour cream
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 2 tsp lemon juice
Instructions
Gluten free crust
- Grease an 12 inch loose bottom cake tin or springform pan. Set it aside and preheat the oven to 180°C.
- Place the sunflower seeds, gluten free jumbo rolled oats and salt in a food processor. Blend them all together until the texture is sandy and fine.
- Add the coconut sugar and melted butter to the sunflower seed mixture and pulse until it begins to hold together. Add 1 tablespoon of water if it looks too dry.
- Sprinkle your mixture into a springform pan. Working from the centre press the dough firmly into the base of the pan.
- Add more dough to cover the edges of the pan and compact everything with your fingers until it makes a thin layer about ½ cm depth.
- Poke the cheesecake crust a few times with a fork to allow the steam to escape during cooking.
- Bake in the middle of a preheated oven for 12 minutes at 180°C or until it starts to go slightly golden.
- Remove your base from the oven and put it to one side to allow it to cool before adding in the filling.
Cheesecake filling
- When you’re ready to begin, preheat the oven to 170°C.
- Take the eggs and separate the egg yolks from the egg whites.
- Beat the egg whites with a handheld mixer or food processor until stiff peaks form. Put them in a bowl and set them to one side.
- Add the cream cheese and maple syrup to a blender. Mix until smooth.
- Add in the egg yolks, sour cream, lemon juice, lemon zest, vanilla extract and corn starch to the mixer and blend until just combined. Remove and spoon into a bowl.
- Gently fold in the beaten egg whites. Don’t over mix as you want to keep the air bubbles, just slowly stir until combined.
- Pour the mixture on top of the precooked cheesecake base. Fill your cake tin to about half cm below the top of the sides.
- Cook in the oven for 30 minutes at 170°C or until you see that the cheesecake is ready.
- Timing is everything with cheesecake so keep a close eye on it as it’s cooking. You want to take it out when the sides are firm but the middle is still wobbly. It will continue cooking afterwards so don’t worry if it doesn’t look completely done. The cheesecake should also not start to brown on top.
- When you see your cheesecake is ready, turn off the heat but leave the cheesecake in the oven for another 30 minutes with the oven switched off. If you remove it from the oven too quickly, cheesecake can crack from the rapid cooling.
- After 30 minutes, take it out of the oven and let it cool completely to room temperature before putting in the fridge for a few hours or overnight to set.
Cheesecake topping
- Mix the sour cream with the maple syrup and lemon juice in a bowl.
- Spoon and spread it out over the top of the cooked cheesecake. Smooth with a spoon before putting your cheesecake in the fridge to set. Enjoy!