Honey Cheesecake

This rich and creamy honey cheesecake is a luxurious twist on the classic New York style baked cheesecake. The recipe will make a large 20cm cheesecake that can easily be cut into ten or more good sized portions- thankfully it will also keep in the fridge for a week. Check the notes at the end of the recipe for easy instructions on how make a smaller cheesecake if you need to.

To make our honey cheesecake you will need:

20cm spring form cake tin
Medium size saucepan
Large mixing bowl
Silicon or wooden spatula/spoon

Cheesecake base

• 180g digestive biscuits
• 2 tbsp of Just Bee Original Honey
• 60g of unsalted butter

Cheesecake filling

• 800g of full fat soft cheese
• 200g of granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp of Just Bee Original Honey
• 2 tbsp of cornflour
• 4 large eggs
• 100ml of double cream
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• The zest of 1 large lemon

Cheesecake topping

• 1 tbsp of Just Bee Honey
• A pinch of lemon zest

Let’s get baking!

Making the cheesecake base:

1. Preheat the oven to gas mark 4 or 180c (160c for a fan assisted oven).

2. We'll be making the biscuit base first, so we need to turn our biscuits into crumbs. There's a few different methods you can use here so use whichever is easiest for you. I usually put them in a plastic bag, tie the top loosely and get as much air out of the bag as I can. Then I wrap the bag in a tea towel and bash with a rolling pin until I'm left with a bag of crumbs. Alternatively you can pulse them in a food processor if you have one, or even just break them up with your fingers, it really won't matter if there's a few slightly bigger lumps.

3. Line your spring form cake tin with kitchen foil, a little butter on the inside will help you get it smooth and neat but don't worry too much.

4. Put the butter in a saucepan with 2 tablespoons of honey and heat gently on a low heat until the butter is melted, stir gently until blended. Remove from the heat and add the biscuit crumbs into the pan, where they will absorb all the butter and honey, then transfer the soggy biscuit crumbs into your lined cake tin.

5. Push the mixture down in the bottom of the tin to create an even layer of biscuit base, you can use a large spoon or fish slice to help if you need to.

6. Pop the tin onto the middle shelf of the oven and bake for 9-10 minutes. Once baked remove from the oven and put aside to cool (in the tin) on a wire cooling rack. Leave the oven on as we'll be putting the cheesecake back in soon!

Making the cheesecake filling:

1. Take your large mixing bowl and add the soft cheese and beat with a spatula until it's smooth and creamy. It shouldn't take long, just a minute or two should suffice.

2. Add the granulated sugar and beat into the cheese for a couple of minutes until combined.

3. Add the rest of the filling ingredients; cornflour, eggs, cream, honey, vanilla extract and lemon zest and beat until fully combined. I like to leave a little pinch of the lemon zest back to sprinkle on the top later but this is entirely optional. You should be left with a smooth creamy batter-like filling.
4. Pour the batter over your biscuit base in the cake tin and spread evenly. The mixture is fairly good at self-levelling but I use the spatula to gently level it out nice and smooth.

Baking the cheesecake:

1. Put the cheesecake on a baking tray on the middle shelf and once you've closed the door reduce the oven temperature to gas mark 2 or 160c (140c for fan assisted ovens) and bake for 45-60 minutes.

There is often debate over how long you should bake a cheesecake for and it really depends on the texture you prefer. A longer bake time will produce a cheesecake with a firm texture, a shorter bake time will give you a cheesecake with a much softer texture. I like my cheesecakes quite firm and well baked and I find an hour is perfect.

2. Once baked turn the oven off but leave your cheesecake to cool down inside with the oven. This should prevent the top cracking but if it does, don't worry- it won't affect how it tastes!

3. Once the oven is cooled (I leave it for around an hour while I clean up and have a well deserved cuppa!) then you can remove your cheesecake and allow it to cool fully before removing from the cake tin.

4. For a finishing touch drizzle a tablespoon of honey over the top and sprinkle with a little lemon zest.

Notes and tips:

We understand this recipe will make a cheesecake that is just too large for some, it's also quite expensive to make with 800g of soft cheese, 4 eggs and all the other ingredients. There's an easy way to make the smaller cheesecake for less.

Firstly you need to search out a 15cm spring form tin, we've looked online and they are available in that size for around £7 - £10, then it's simply a case of halving all the ingredients. Reduce the cooking time by around 10 minutes.

Soft cheese can be expensive, especially if you are looking to buy 800g of Philadelphia brand cheese. However Morrisons sell their own brand Savers Soft Cheese for just 85p for 200g, we've used it and the cheesecake was just as delicious, so this is a good way to reduce some of the overall cost without sacrificing flavour, especially if you are making the large cheesecake.

We've specified our Original Just Bee Honey in the recipe but feel free to try one of our flavoured honeys as a substitute. A tablespoon of our Just Bee Valencia Orange Honey drizzled on the top of the cheesecake was absolutely divine!