My First Baked Cheesecake

the other day i went to a barbecue with my boyfriend and I decided it would be a good time to make my first baked cheesecake. the picture isn't that great, and it wasn't the best cheesecake i've ever had, but hey, i'm still learning, right? it was still pretty good. i like having room to improve. the best thing about it was that it was super super easy.. Unfortunately I don't have my requisite step-by-step tutorial photographs, but that's because I ran out of time, because Mike and I had to rush to Tripod.
either way.. i present for you..

Super Easy, Delicious Cheesecake Recipe!
This recipe is incredibly versatile. I used some canned blueberries (but you could also fill it with other fruits and berries e.g. stoned cherries, cooked apple) to shake it up a bit.

Some other suggestions include:

• Serving cheesecake plain, topped with fresh fruits (e.g. peaches, kiwi fruit, passionfruit, all manner of berries..)
• Serve with a fruit compote.
• Infuse plain cheesecake filling with lemon (or another citrus fruit) rind and topping with lemon sauce or lemon butter
• Serving with chocolate curls.
  
• Serving with a simple berry sauce (I like to crush/blend berries such as blueberries and raspberries, etc with lemon/orange juice and sugar, heating (microwaving / or on the stove) and then straining the seeds out. To thicken, simply warm sauce and add a mixture of cornflour and water. If the sauce is too sweet or thick, simply add some water and mix to combine.) Berry sauces are also lovely with ice-cream or other cakes and desserts.
• Other options include serving it with cream and ice-cream but I don't really think it's neccessary for cheesecake. Cream and ice-cream is best with warm fudge brownies or a mud cake to even out the richness, but I think cheesecake is fine with just fruit or a fruit sauce.
  

Anyway, on to the recipe!

Biscuit base:
250g arrowroot biscuits (you could also use Nice biscuits, or add some caster sugar if you were after a sweeter crust, or chocolate biscuits for a richer base, but personally I don't it's neccessary).
125-150g butter (you can experiment with how much butter holds together the crust together for you.)

Filling:
750g softened cream cheese (to soften leave out in room temperature for about an hour, or just microwave for about 10-30 seconds)
about a cup of caster sugar
3 eggs
(i used) 1 can of blueberries

For crust, crush biscuits finely (using a food processor). If you do not have a food processor, you can use a blender or simply seal biscuits in a sandwich bag and go to town with a rolling pin (although this takes a lot longer and won't produce as fine crumbs.) But that's fine. Mix in melted butter with crushed biscuits. Press crumb mixture into a lined springform cake tin on the base and up the sides of the tin. Refrigerate for about an hour (or in my case, chuck in the freezer for about 5 minutes, lol.)

Beat together cream cheese with sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating on a low speed (incorporates less air and lessens possibility of cracks in cheesecake while baking). Pour filling into biscuit base. I then poured in the blueberries and berry juice in and attempted to swirl the juice in with the cheesecake filling in an attempt to create a marbled effect, but it was too runny & didn't really work.. oh well! probably try to thicken the juice next time. You could easily replace the blueberries with frozen berries (usually better quality anyway).

Bake in a preheated oven (at about 160-180C) for about an hour or until the cheesecake is firm, slightly browned at the edge and wobbles slightly in the middle. I also baked in a shallow dish filled with water to stop cracks from forming and to avoid burning the cheesecake.

Serve & eat with friends =)
Enjoy!