Baked European style cheesecake was the first cheesecake to become popular in Australia. I can remember first tasting it in a cafe in South Yarra in the mid 1960s, but it would probably have been a few years later that Mum was given this recipe. There are lots of cheesecake recipes now, but the basic baked cheesecake with a dollop of cream is still a winner. Ansett Airlines collapsed in 2001 and this is a nice souvenir of Mum and Dad’s travels around Australia.

CHEESE CAKE

• 1 cup sweet biscuit crumbs
  
• 60g butter, melted
  
• 250g Philadelphia cream cheese (room temperature)
  
• ½ cup sugar
  
• 1 dessertspoon lemon juice
  
• 2 eggs
  
• ½ teaspoon vanilla essence
  

Combine biscuit crumbs and melted butter. Press into a buttered 20cm pie plate (or springform pan). Beat cream cheese until smooth gradually add sugar. Beat in eggs and then add the lemon juice and vanilla essence. Combine well and pour into pan. Bake at 160°C for 2 hours.