I am beginning to think there are two magic ingredients in baking: cream cheese and condensed milk.  In the past, I have made various desserts that taste heavenly but are so simple and easy it almost seems impossible. Without fail, they have contained either condensed milk or cream cheese. Some that use cream cheese include my white chocolate mousse, my cream cheese icing, my chocolate chip cookie cheese cake brownies. As for condensed milk, it is a key ingredients in my chocolate fudge, banoffee pie and homemade ice cream.  This recipe uses both! And little else.

The cheesecake is silky smooth and creamy with a good lemon flavour. It also takes almost no time to make. The most tedious aspect was using a potato masher to pulverise the gingernut biscuits. However, if you have a food processor this would take about 10 seconds.
I found this recipe on the Carnation condensed milk website.  Recipes that companies put on their websites are generally reliable and this cheesecake recipe looked simple and delicious. When an acid is added to condensed milk, such as lemon or lime juice, it’s texture changes almost immediately and it thickens and becomes set. This cheesecake is based on that principle, so although I think you could change the recipe and use lime or orange juice, you must include some sort of acid.

The cheesecake can either be served plain or with the berry sauce. The berry sauce was very simple to make and I don’t think you need to follow the recipe exactly. As long as you add a bit of sugar and some lemon juice, I think the sauce should really be to taste. I made this sauce slightly tart and it complemented the sweetness of the cheesecake.

So enjoy!

No Bake Lemon Cheesecake with Mixed Berry Sauce

Ingredients:

• 200g (7oz) shortbread biscuits (I used ginger nut biscuits!)
• 40g (1½oz) butter, melted
• 405g can Carnation Condensed Milk
• 300g tub full fat cream cheese
• zest and juice of 2 large lemons
• 125g (5oz) mixed frozen berries
• Juice of half a lemon
• 1tbsp icing sugar

Directions:

1. Crush the biscuits in a food processor. Mix together the crushed biscuits and melted butter then lightly press into the bottom of a 8 or 9″ springform pan. Chill while you make the filling.
2. Meanwhile beat together the condensed milk and cream cheese until completely smooth. Add the juice and zest of 2 lemons and combine thoroughly. Spread the cream mixture onto the biscuit base and chill for 4 hours or overnight.
3. Add the berries into a small pan with the juice of half a lemon and the icing sugar, bring to the boil rapidly for a minute or two. Cool the mixture then transfer to a jug and refrigerate.
4. When ready to serve pour over the berry mixture so it trickles down the sides of the cheesecake.

Enjoy!