Sweet temptation à la Minu: Creamy cheesecake with fruity pomegranate sauce

Ingredients for 5 servings:

• 100 g butter, plus a little more for the mold
• 150 g wholemeal butter biscuits
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 900 g cream cheese
• 250 g sugar, fine
• 2 tbsp flour
• 5 drops of vanilla flavor or 2 packets of vanilla sugar
• 1 orange zest
• 1 lemon zest
• 3 eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 300 g whipped cream
• 250 g pomegranate juice
• 50 g sugar
• 1 lemon(s), juice
• 2 tsp cornstarch
• 2 tbsp water
• 100 g pomegranate seeds

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Rest time approx. 8 hours; Cooking/baking time approx. 1 hour; Total time approx. 9 hours 30 minutes

from the show “The Perfect Dinner” on VOX from 14.03.2025

For the cheesecake, preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease a 24 cm springform pan or line it with baking paper. Melt the butter in a small saucepan, finely crumble the butter biscuits and stir them into the melted butter. Add the sugar and mix everything well. Pour the mixture into the bottom of the springform pan and press it down evenly. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes, remove from the oven and let it cool. Increase the oven temperature to 200°C. Whip the cream in a bowl until stiff peaks form and set aside. In another bowl, beat the cream cheese with a hand mixer until creamy. Gradually add the caster sugar, flour, vanilla sugar, orange and lemon zest and mix everything until smooth. Separate the eggs and fold the yolks into the cream cheese mixture. Whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form and carefully fold them into the cream cheese mixture. Then carefully fold in the whipped cream until a homogeneous mixture is formed. Grease the sides of the springform pan, pour the cream cheese mixture into the pan on top of the pre-baked crust, and smooth it out. Bake in the oven at 200°C for 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 110°C and bake for another 35 minutes. Turn off the oven and let the cheesecake cool in it for two hours. Then chill the cake in the refrigerator for at least four hours, ideally overnight. To make the pomegranate sauce, heat the pomegranate juice, sugar, and lemon juice in a small saucepan over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Mix the cornstarch with water until smooth and stir into the gently simmering juice. Simmer the sauce for 1-2 minutes until it thickens slightly. Then let it cool completely to achieve a velvety consistency. Add pomegranate seeds (optional) for decoration. Arrange a slice of cheesecake on each plate, drizzle with the pomegranate sauce, and decorate with pomegranate seeds. Zeynep prepared this recipe as a dessert in the show “The Perfect Dinner” – Day 5 in Bremen, on Friday, March 14, 2025.