Cheese Cake with Raisins

I know if you are in the ‘I don’t like raisin camp’ you may disregard this post but you shouldn’t!

This recipe is so delicious I am sure you can leave the raisins out if you do not like them & still have a very yummy cake!

The recipe is from Carine Goren.. TRADITIONAL Jewish Baking .. I love this book. Everything I have made from it has been great.

Here is a link to the other recipe that I have posted on this blog..

Cheese & Crumb Cake by Carine Goren.

Here is the recipe for this Cheese cake with Raisins with a few changes that I made

Ingredients

For the base

3 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 cup sugar

7/8 cup ( 220 g or 7 oz ) butter, cut into cubes

2 eggs

Filling

1 lb cream cheese, cut into chunks

2 1/2 cups greek yogurt

1/2 cup vanilla pudding mix

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

zest of 1 lemon

1 cup golden raisins

Method

Preheat oven to 350f

Grease a 13 x11 baking dish.. I use a glass pyrex pan

Making the base

1. Use your food processor… mix the flour, baking powder, sugar & butter until it is crumbly. It is good to use the pulse feature for this
2. Add the eggs, mix until a dough forms
3. Press 2/3 of the dough into the bottom of the prepared baking dish, pressing firmly
4. Reserve the remaining dough… this will be the topping.
5. Bake the base for 20 minutes until it is golden, remove from the oven & leave the oven on

Make the filling

1. You can use your food processor for this or a mixer.
2. Cream the cream cheese in the mixer, scrape down the sides. I using
3. Add the yogurt, vanilla pudding mix, eggs, sugar & lemon zest & mix until combined well & smooth
4. Fold in the raisins

Pour the filling onto the baked base, smooth it out so it is evenly distributed in the pan

Take the reserved topping & sprinkle it over the cheese mixture

Bake for 40 minutes until golden

Let cool then put in the fridge for at least 4 hours before serving

Enjoy!