I never meant to that that girl, quite honestly. You know, the weird one that just has to make something weird when everyone else makes something normal that pleases everyone. It just happened that way. I recall my dad getting a heart shaped thankyou mug from his work and saying “This is weird, Lorraine will like it-she likes weird things”. I don’t know if it’s it’s the chicken or the egg, whether I chose to like spooky or gruesome things or whether they chose me and seeing something similarly off kilter in them as I saw in myself, I embraced it.
Blue cheese and camembert
So when planning the Daring Bakers challenge, I was chatting with Y, whom I often chat to about baking things, and she said that she wanted to do a brie cheesecake and we discussed doing a cheeseplate cheesecake together. As it turns out, life and the fact that neither of us drive prevented us from doing the challenge together (which would have made life easier I’m sure), but I was still determined to do something like a cheeseplate cheesecake as I loved the idea.
Blue cheese cheesecake
Ricotta would have been easy, after all there are plenty of ricotta cheesecakes but I knew that I had to try a Blue Cheese Cheesecake. I figured blue would be suitably strange. I then thought camembert would make a delicious cheesecake and wanted to do a lighter, more moussey or souffle-y camembert cheesecake that wasn’t sweet and therefore could be eaten just like camembert on a cheese plate although I wasn’t brave enough to try that on the blue cheese cheesecake. And by the way, the camembert cheesecake, when it’s just out of the oven is beautifully fluffy and gorgeous eaten with a spoon out of a ramekin and some caramelised onions although it firms up on chilling. On the plate you can also see another cake – a Cheddar cheese and pear cake that wasn’t a cheesecake but more on that another day.
Camembert Cheesecake
I did adjust the recipe so I hope that was permitted as I made two 4 inch round tins of cheesecake to fit the Cheese plate idea (two whacking great sized cheesecakes just seemed a little too much). I also replaced the cream with sour cream and added the requisite cheeses.
The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.
Cheese Plate Cheesecakes
An original recipe by Not Quite Nigella
Below are the crust quantities for both the camembert and the blue cheese cheesecakes (4 inch size). If you are only making one of them halve the crust recipe.
- 100 g graham cracker crumbs
- 2 oz/60g butter, melted
- 1 tbsp. / 12 g sugar
Camembert cheesecake filling:
- 150g/5ozs of cream cheese, room temperature
- 100g/3.5 ozs camembert, at room temperature
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/2 teaspoon cracked pepper
DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.
2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too – baker’s choice. Set crust aside.
3. Combine cream cheese and camembert in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add egg fully incorporating it. Make sure to scrape down the bowl. Add sour cream and pepper and blend until smooth and creamy.
4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.
5. Bake 40 to 50 minutes, until it is almost done – this can be hard to judge, but you’re looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don’t want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won’t crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.
Pan note: The creator of this recipe used to use a springform pan, but no matter how well she wrapped the thing in tin foil, water would always seep in and make the crust soggy. Now she uses one of those 1-use foil “casserole” shaped pans from the grocery store. They’re 8 or 9 inches wide and really deep, and best of all, water-tight. When it comes time to serve, just cut the foil away.
Pre baking
Prep notes: While the actual making of this cheesecake is a minimal time commitment, it does need to bake for almost an hour, cool in the oven for an hour, and chill overnight before it is served. Please plan accordingly!
Blue Cheese cheesecake filling
- 150g/5ozs of cream cheese, room temperature
- 100g/3.5ozs mild blue cheese (I used Danish blue which is very creamy and mild), at room temperature
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon sour cream
- 2 tablespoons good quality honey
- Blueberry sauce (heat 1 tablespoon blueberries with water and sugar and mash until smooth)
DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.
2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too – baker’s choice. Set crust aside.
3. Combine cream cheese and blue cheese in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add egg fully incorporating it. Make sure to scrape down the bowl. Add sour cream and blend until smooth and creamy. Spoon over blueberry sauce and using a skewer or chopstick squiggle it around so that it looks like “blue veins”.
4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.
After baking
5. Bake 40 to 50 minutes, until it is almost done – this can be hard to judge, but you’re looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don’t want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won’t crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.
Pan note: The creator of this recipe used to use a springform pan, but no matter how well she wrapped the thing in tin foil, water would always seep in and make the crust soggy. Now she uses one of those 1-use foil “casserole” shaped pans from the grocery store. They’re 8 or 9 inches wide and really deep, and best of all, water-tight. When it comes time to serve, just cut the foil away.
Prep notes: While the actual making of this cheesecake is a minimal time commitment, it does need to bake for almost an hour, cool in the oven for an hour, and chill overnight before it is served. Please plan accordingly!
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74 Comments | Add your own
SO COOL! I love the idea of doing cheesecakes for a cheese plate, and these look super yummy. I definitely will be giving one of them a try at a wine and cheese party sometime.
So creative! I never would have thought of this!
How fun – camembert and blue cheese cheesecakes! I would love to try those as I am a big fan of cheese.
This is such an inspired idea! I love it! This would be so impressive to serve at the end of a dinner party.
What a darling idea! And the camembert cheesecake does look like an actual cammembert, lol!
Very elegant presentation Lorraine. I am a blue cheese fan, so the blue cheese cheesecake with blueberries sounds like a winner to me.
The swirls in these cheese cakes are gorgeous! Great idea!
I love this, Lorraine!! The cheesecakes on the cheeseplate are a fantastic trompe-l’œil.
Great idea to use blueberry sauce for the veining on the blue cheese cheesecake (such a mouthful!) Now I have to make it as I must know how blueberries and cheese go together
Awesome cheesecakes! Love how they echo shape of cheeses! Will go back to reading entry now
I like that you are ‘that’ girl! These cheesecakes are so imaginative, I love the idea of the cheese platter. Good work!
You have presented it so beautiful, how could any one not like the idea! Very unique..
What an amazing idea, and it turned out so well for you! I’d love to attend a dinner party where a blue cheese cheesecake was wheeled out with the crackers at the end.
Looks like you embraced the theme better than I did, Lorraine. Even though we didn’t get to collaborate together, I’m glad we had that conversation! Thanks for the inspiration
Beautiful platter! I love these strange ideas of yours Lorraine, keep them coming!
lovely, just lovely.
Those look incredible! I’d love to try the blue cheese – I really like blue cheese in desserts (once had a pear & blue cheese gelato) and it goes SO WELL with fruit.
You know what’s funny? I just told Y that blue cheese would be a fabulous way to do the cheeseplate cheesecake
Happy coincidence, no? Both of those look fabulous, and sound sooo tasty!
wow I love these cheesecakes – can’t imagine the blue cheese and blueberry sauce together (nice pairing of blue) but would be curious to try – I had a sundried tomato cheesecake once which was wonderful but very rich – and am looking forward to your cheese and pear cake
Wow, fantastic!! I really, really, really want to try the Camembert cheesecake! How long are you going to keep us waiting to hear more about the cheddar and pear cake?!
I love the addition of the blueberry…so pretty and I bet just delicious! SO creative.
This is a really creative one! It sounds good to serve fruit with a rich cheesecake, and it looks great on the platter too.
STUNNING…beautiful flavours Lorraine! You’ve done justice to the challenge…& in style!! WOW!!
Oh my dear lord. That looks absolutely to die for! Tell me, how sweet are these cheesecakes? Like the traditional form? Is there a recipe to share??! In this instance, weird is brilliant
Wow, clever idea!
I love the requisite cheese platter presentation! I’m not much of a cheese person so can’t imagine what it’d taste like (I can’t imagine blue that’s for sure!) but I love the idea of it!
I wish people would stop talking about cheese cake, its making me insane! haha.
The thing is, there is something about it that makes me sick, the cheese cake, and I do get sick in the literally sense, but they always look so good.
You are making me pine for it -whimpers-
These sound delicious and your presentation is absolutely stunning. Great job!
Oh, I love savory cheesecakes! Your platter looks so beautiful and tempting! A great creation!
Cheers,
Rosa
I like wierd too – soon there’ll be so many of us liking weird that we’ll be normal and it’ll be weird to like non-weird. Now I’m confused. A question… what would we in Australia use as a substitue for these Graham crackers? From what I know, they’d be a bit like a digestive/wheaten biscuit – would that be right?
“I figured blue would be suitably strange.” Ha! I LOVE it! SO creative and (not weird!) out-of-the-box. Well done, really!
Very elegant. Great idea to match it with the figs. Makes perfect sense to me
A very cool idea…and I’m sure they’re both delicious! I’m hungry for cheese now…hehe..
Wow. What a great idea for a savory cheesecake! I was hoping not everyone would go sweet. This looks fantastic!
Now I think I’d quite like that. One of my foodie guests today (I work in radio) talked about having tried ’smoked ice cream’.
I can’t see any good coming from that.
What a great idea! I would never have thought to do a savoury one. Yum… I love cheese!
I’m a big cheese and cheesecake fan so I love this concept and your presentation. How did the blue cheese cheesecake taste?
dramatic and spectacular photo savory flavors … it was an option that deck, but even these flavors are truly amazing …
Haha how funny. I made a lamb saag cheesecake on the weekend.
I too am concerned about being “that” girl/man.
This is such a great idea. I am so not creative with my baking. Puts my very predictable cake to shame….
That looks amazing!! What a great idea!
It all looked completely lovely, as usual. You set high standards each time you post something!
But my absolute favourite bit was these lovely words from your dad:
“This is weird, Lorraine will like it-she likes weird things”.
Gold.
I love that you bring the weird! Your blog would definitely not be so successful if you didn’t push the envelope a little bit. And always have something awesome come out
How decadent – a truly cheesy cheesecake!
Awesome!!!
Bravo !!!
Absolutely stunning! Your plate looks so beautiful!
So clever! What a great idea. That cheeseplate looks delectable. One question though: what do you use as graham cracker crumbs? I can’t get them here, are they like jatz biscuits or are they sweet?? Am hoping you can set the record straight for me!
OOhhh yuummm! They should have these cheesecake platters in restaurants instead of normal cheese platters
i think this is an extremely clever idea–not weird at all, and extremely appetizing. an all-around win, if you ask me.
another stunning presentation! although i’m one of the weirdos who can’t do “nice” cheese (other than the cheddars and mozzarellas of the world), i really respect your originality here. great work.
Great job and great flavours. Absolutely wonderful idea in presenting the cakes with a cheese platter.
LOL I know the feeling of making something weird!! I just attempted a silken tofu brie cheese cake with fig jam and tahini… the batter tasted good… the baked finished product… FAIL! LOL Once I post about it I’ll let you know!
Hi sara-Thankyou!
Great idea-it’s a nice surprise dessert for a wine and cheese party!
Hi Barbara-Thankyou! It was a lot of fun
Hi 5 Star Foodie-I think the thing that I like is that they did still taste strongly of the cheese but the blue
vein was tempered by the honey
Hi Steph-Thankyou so much!
Hi clumbsycookie -Thanks so much Rita, yes I was hoping it would come out of the tin in one piece so it would
Hi Cakelaw-Thanks!
Ah if you’re a blue cheese fan, this is for you, although I think it’s relatively mild so
even if you’re not, you wouldn’t mind it.
Hi Anita-Thankyou! I wish it was a bit more “vlue veiny” but I wasn’t sure how far to go
Hi Angela-Thankyou! Hehe that was exactly what I was going for
Oh you must and plmk what you think of it!
Hi ang_w -Thankyou! Yes I felt like that should as much as possible
Hi Betty-Aww thankyou!
It was so yummy to eat too I have to say. Thanks! 
Hi Soma-Thanks! I think the kids that tried it were a little confused but that was to be expected
Hi belle -Thankyou! Yes wouldn’t it be great if I had a cheese trolley full of these cheesecakes?
Hi Y-Yes if one of us drives one day-well I have less than 10 hours left to practice so hopefully it will be
me, perhaps a collaboration is on the cards
Hi Tiffany-Hehe thankyou so much!
Hi BethieofVA-Thankyou so much!
Hi anna-Ooh that sounds lovely. I made a blue cheese ice cream and that really worked
I agree blue cheese
and fruit is a fantastic match!
Hi Caitlin-Haha great minds think alike! Thankyou so much!
Hi Johanna-Somehow it works as blue cheese and fruit is an excellent match. The cheddar adn pear cake is so
delicious!
Hi Angela-Thankyou! Oh cool
Haha hopefully not long but patience my dear 
Hi claire -Thanks so much
Hi Arwen-Yes even small cheesecakes like this need some fruit as they’re quite rich.
Hi deeba -Thankyou so much! That’s sweet of you to say!
Hi Yasmin-Thanks! They’re not extremely sweet, in fact the camember has pepper in it and no sugar. The recipe
is right there my dear!
Hi J-Thankyou!
Hi Karen-I just had to
Not a cheese person? Does that extend to cheesecake too?
Hi ArtemisIII-Hehe sorry!
Oh no, you poor thing 
Are they too rich perhaps?
Hi Little Miss Cupcake-Thankyou so much!
Hi Rosa-Hehe I haven’t tried many to be honest but this was so good I should give it another go!
Hi Megan-Hehe won’t that be funny?
Good question as you’re right, graham crackers aren’t to be seen here.
I use malt o milks, shortbread or Mc vities digestives for cheesecakes
Hi Lisa-Hehe I am always drawn to blue cheese! Thankyou so much, you are too sweet!
Hi Jude -Thankyou! Ah good, so there is a method to the madness
Hi Alexandra-Thankyou! They were both really good but quite different from each other!
Hi Elissa -Thankyou! I had to go sweet for the blue vein but extremely sweet, just a bit of honey
Hi Carol-Thankyou! Wow, smoked ice cream?! Interesting stuff indeed!
Hi Bria-Thankyou! Hehe it wasn’t intentional. I tried the raw batter and thought that it was so gorgeously
camemberty that I didn’t want to ruin it.
Hi Tina-Oh fantastic!
It was gorgeously creamy, definitely blue veiny wiht a light touch of honey. Really
good if I do say so myself
Hi cookemila-Thanks so much, that’s very kind of you to say
Hi Jobe-Hehe no, really? :O
Hi Julia-Thankyou so much
Your cake wasn’t predictable at all!
Hi Arundathi -Thankyou so much!
Hi the projectivist -Aww shucks thankyou! Haha yes he is how do you say, blunt?
Hi Esz-Aww thankyou and thankyou for liking my weirdness!
You are so sweet Esz! 
Hi Moya-Thankyou!
Hi Nawal-Thanks!
Hi yaelian-Thankyou so much!
Hi sallyc-Thankyou! It’s a good question
I use malt o milks, shortbread or McVities digestive biscuits. I
think Jatz might be too savoury for it
Hi FFichiban -Hehe I agree!
Hi grace -Ahh cool, thankyou!
Hi leanne -Thankyou so much!
What a lovely thing to say! 
Hi jo-Thankyou! I couldn’t resist
Hi stephchows-Aww no, what a pity, it sounded like it might work! Sorry to hear that!
Mmm, your cheesecakes look amazing!! Beautiful job making this savoury =D.
how interesting, I would imagine the blue cheese cake would be slightly salty. I adore anything cheese, so these make me salivate!
When I first saw your photo in the DBK forum, I had to call over my guy to check out how gorgeous and creative your idea was. A cheese ‘cake’ plate using savory cheeses in the cheesecake is genius. I know I always say this, but – once again, you astound me with your talent! Not Quite Nigella? Try BETTER than Nigella!
Wow what a brilliant idea. So impressive. I bet it tasted fab.
Hey Lorraine,
This cheese platter looks fabulous!
Apart & so delicious!
Very creative!
Yummie!!!
Couldn’t help it, reading a line from your Dad make me laugh. Weird things? I bet it’s mean including eating weird things
)
Nice adaptation and I love savory cheesecakes. One of my favorite ones had to be a smoked salmon.
Blue cheese also goes so well with desserts especially pears.
I too am in the love of weird things fan club.
I read Y’s post and just had to come and see yours
You two made the best cheesecakes this month!
Haha my family thinks I like “weird things” too! They don’t realize there’s a method to the madness!
Brilliant cheesecakes, btw!
Hi Lauren-Thankyou so much! That’s so sweet of you to say
Hi Maria-It was a little salty although the honey countered that
This is for cheese plate lovers most
definitely!
Hi Lisa-Aww shucks, thankyou! I was knocked out by your stunning creations! You are so sweet -truly and
honestly!
x
Hi katie-Thankyou! I have to say I was over the moon wiht how they turned out. There’s always an anxious moment
when you don;t quite know how they’ll be
Hi Sophie-Thankyou so much darling! That’s very kind of you to say!
Hi Lilia-Oh yes, I’m positive he thinks that I eat weird things. 100% sure.
Hi Jeff-Thankyou! Funnily enough, as we were driving off from the shops I realised that I had forgotten to buy
something like smoked salmon or proscuitto to go with it! Cool, weird lovers unite!
Hi Marija-Aww wow, thankyou! That’s such a compliment coming from a kitchen goddess like you!
Hi howtoeatacupcake-Hehe exactly! There’s a definite method
Thankyou so much! 
This is funny, the first sentence of my DB post was something like “I’m not much for cheesecake (just give me the cheese platter)…” I’m still fairly new to DB and didn’t realize it was so laid back as far as altering the host recipe. Great idea though- way to think outside the springform!
Doing something different is what makes you unique. I personally LOVE the idea of a cheeseplate cheesecake. Wished I thought of that sooner. I guess when two great minds (you and lemonpi) are put together only greatness will come from it. Wish I have someone else to brainstorm recipe with me. Fantastic job!
WOW! very interesting, what a great idea to think outside the usual!
Wow, a savory cheesecake! What an amazing idea, this would be such a nice surprise for guests who think they’re getting plain old bleu cheee!
Cheese is like my favorite thing to eat and I think your take on this challenge is my favorite! So creative and with a gorgeous presentation!
Hi mlle noelle-hehe isn’t that funny! yes I think they are as people like to get a bit creative
Thankyou!
Hi asti-Thankyou so much!
Yes it’s wonderful being able to brainstorm different ideas. You are too kind! 
Hi Jenny-Thankyou! that’s very nice of you to say
Hi maris -hehe yes I should have pranked them shouldn’t I! Now that would have been cool
Hi Jenny-Oh thankyou! That’s so sweet of you to say! I loved your cheesecakes-so creative
Fantastic idea and a beautiful presentation!
I had already stumbled across the other cheeseplate cheesecake post, and just think it is a marvelous idea. I love fig with any kind of cheese, and would love to try yours! Thanks for being a part of this month’s challenge.
P.S. Forgot to call you a weirdo. Hehe.
Fabulous interpretation! Perfect dessert!
Hi Holly-Thankyou so much!
Hi JennyBakes-Thanks for hosting! Figs are just magical adn thankfully just in season right now. Haha that’s a compliment!
Hi Zoë-thankyou so much!
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