Ingredients
Crumb Crust :
185g shortbread biscuits; 60g butter
Filling
750g cream cheese, softened; 1 1/4 cups sugar; 6 eggs, separated; 1/2 cup plain flour, sifted; 1 cup cream; 1 tsp grated lemon rind; 2 tblsp lemon juice; 1 tsp vanilla essence
Apricot Puree
60g dried apricots; 1/2 cup sugar; 1 tblsp rum; 1 1/4 cups warm water
Crust
Crush biscuits using the end of a rolling pin or in a food processor if you have one. Combine biscuit crumbs and melted butter in a bowl. Press mixture into the base of a 23cm springform cake tin. Refrigerate until set.
Apricot Puree (the long way)
Soak apricots in warm water for an hour. Put soaked apricots into a saucepan and add sugar. Simmer over very low heat until tender. This will take approx half an hour. Beat well with a whisk or process very gently in a food processor. Cool the mixture, add the rum and stir until smooth.
Filling
Beat cream cheese and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolks until just blended. Add flour, lemon rind and juice, and vanilla and stir. Beat egg whites until stiff and they form soft peaks, whip cream until stiff. Fold egg white and then cream into cream cheese mix. Spoon a third of the mixture over crumb crust (don't play with it too much otherwise you will end up with biscuit crumbs through the cheese mixture). Using half of the apricot nectar, drizzle it across the cheese mixture from left to right. Don't cover it all over. Gently pour another third of the cheese mixture over and repeat the apricot puree layer. Top with the remaining cheese mixture. With a sharp pointed knife, gently cut through the mixture to swirl the puree. Again, don't play with it. Do it and leave it alone. Stand the cake tin on an oven tray. Bake at 150 degrees celsius for one hour. Turn the oven off and leave the cheesecake for a further hour in the oven. Refrigerate once the cheesecake is cool.
