Shortcrust Cherry Cheesecake

A hearty, beautiful and fragrant shortcrust cherry cheesecake: a shortbread base, sweet-tart cherries, a delicate curd cheese filling and a chocolate lattice on top. It's based on Lviv-style cheesecake - the very one that lures you in from bakery windows in Lviv. It turns out really cool and original, recommend!

Shortcrust Cherry Cheesecake

A cheesecake inspired by the Lviv style: a shortbread base, a cherry layer, a delicate curd cheese filling with lemon zest, and a chocolate lattice.

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Prep Time 40 minutes mins

Cook Time 55 minutes mins

Chilling (best overnight) 8 hours hrs

Total Time 9 hours hrs 35 minutes mins

Servings: 8 servings

Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients

  

Shortbread dough

• 75 g sugar
• 75 g margarine
• 1 egg
• 150 g flour
• 1 pinch baking soda
• 1 pinch salt

Curd cheese filling

• 1 egg yolk and white separated
• 220 g curd cheese (tvorog)
• 150 g sugar
• 80 g sour cream
• 15 g semolina
• 1 pinch salt
• lemon juice a couple of drops
• lemon zest from half a lemon
• cocoa for the chocolate lattice

Filling and decoration

• 200 g cherries fresh or frozen
• sugar for cooking the cherries
• chocolate for decoration

Method

 

Shortbread base

1. With a mixer, whip the sugar with the margarine and egg into a fluffy foam. Add the sifted flour, a pinch of baking soda and salt, and knead into a dough.
2. Spread the dough in a rectangular pan and chill in the fridge while you prepare the cherries.

Cherry filling

1. Thaw the cherries (mine were from the freezer) and pit them. Simmer with sugar in a saucepan for about 5 minutes, then let cool.
2. Spread the cherries over the base of the dough, without the juice.

Curd cheese filling and baking

1. In a blender, purée the yolk, curd cheese, sugar, sour cream, semolina, a pinch of salt, the zest of half a lemon and a couple of drops of lemon juice until smooth.
2. Separately, whip the egg white into a fluffy, stable foam and quickly fold it into the curd cheese mixture.
3. Spread the mixture over the pan on top of the cherries. Set aside a little of the curd mixture, mix in the cocoa, transfer to a piping bag and pipe a chocolate lattice on top.
4. Bake the cheesecake for 50 minutes in an oven preheated to 180-200 C.
   
5. Remove the finished cheesecake from the pan, drizzle the sides with chocolate glaze and let cool. It's best to refrigerate it overnight so it fully sets. Bon appetit!
   

Notes

The cheesecake needs time to 'mature': after cooling completely, keep it in the fridge overnight - the texture becomes denser and tastier.