Wendy Hays

I have a friend with a strong culinary affinity with Betty Crocker, White Wings and Green’s. 

Her signature Green’s Chocolate Brownies have had the most fastidious of foodies fooled and requesting the recipe.

Now I’m a bit of a purist when it comes to food, must confess that I have a small stash of cake mixes, bought on special, in the cupboard. 

These rather maligned time-savers do have a place in the kitchen and have come a long way since the super sweet, soft, palate clinging products of previous decades.

For readers without the skill or fondness for baking, cake mixes offer economy, consistency and are sufficiently robust enough to cut, shape and transport.

With a bit of creative thinking, they can also form the basis of something really special. 

This month’s recipe for Lemon Cheesecake Slice can be served as a morning or afternoon tea treat or can be dressed up for a dessert with a few berries and some softly whipped cream.

Lemon Cheesecake Slice

Ingredients

Base

• 1 x 440g packet of golden butter cake mix

• 100g of butter – melted

• 2 ts finely grated lemon rind

Topping

• 250 g block of cream cheese – at room temperature

• 3 eggs – at room temperature

• 2 C pure icing sugar

• 2 ts. finely grated lemon rind

• 1/3C lemon juice

Method

1 Grease and line a 18cm x 28cm slice pan with baking paper. Extend the paper a few cm. above the sides of the pan.

2 Turn oven on to 180C.

3 Mix together the cake mix, butter and lemon rind. Keep the icing mix from the cake mix packet for another use.

4 Press the mix over the base of the prepared pan.

5 Bake for 15 -20 minutes or until just starting to brown around the edges.

6 While the base is baking, make the topping. Beat the cream cheese in the small bowl of an electric mix master until smooth.

7 Gradually beat in the eggs, icing sugar, rind and juice. Beat until combined.

8 Carefully pour the topping mix over the back of a spoon onto the precooked base. The base will be quite soft and delicate.

9 Cook for a further 25 minutes until the topping is set in the center and the edges are golden brown.

10 Cool in the pan then refrigerate until firm.

11 Cut into square to serve. Store in the refrigerator.