Baklava-Cheesecake cake, a match made in heaven

This post is long long overdue, but I just now got some time to publish it. Today we are going to talk about "Baklava-Cheesecake". I guess most of you have heard about this cake already, I always wanted to try it, but always missed the right occasion to make it. Several weeks ago however I got even two of such special occasions. First cake was done for my family who visited us for some days. Second was made for a good friend birthday lunch invitation.

If you love baklava and cheesecake as I do, then this cake is a must. It looks stunning, special and festive.... perfect cake to be made for a special occasion. And the best part of it is that you would not need any special decoration or have any special decoration skills, as this case looks awesome by it own already.

I made the cheesecake not too sweet to balance the sweetness of the baklava filling. Nuts, honey and lemon are giving a special wow effect to the creamy cheesecake texture and if you would like it a bit more sweeter, you can always take another splash of the silky sugar syrup on top. The cake was a success and everybody was amazed by it looks!

Baklava-Cheesecake cake

Sugar Syrup

• 120 g sugar
• 100 ml water
• lemon juice of half a lemon

Put all the ingredients in a sauce pan (take a deep one) and bring it to boil. Once boiling reduce the heat to medium-low and let it bubble away for 10-15 minutes. Put it aside to cool down.

Cheesecake

• 350 g cream cheese
• 250 ml yogurt (I took the light to balance the creaminess of the cream cheese)
• 90 g sugar
• vanilla essence
• 3 eggs
• 2 packages vanilla pudding powder

In a bowl whisk (hand whisk) together cream cheese, yogurt, sugar and vanilla essence, till you get a smooth and silky mixture. Add the eggs, one at the time, whisk till all well combined. Finally sift it vanilla pudding powder and fold it carefully in, avoiding too much beating. Set aside.

Baklava filling

• 250 g nuts  (I made a mix of pistachios and pecan nuts)
• 2/3 of sugar syrup

Chop the nuts roughly (I did not chop it too small, to have some bigger nuts bites). In a bowl mix together nuts and syrup. Set aside.

Assembling the cake

• 4-5 filo dough sheets
• 3-4 tablespoons of melted butter

Preheat the oven to 180 C. Take your baking form and grease it slightly with melted butter. Take the first filo dough sheet and brush it with butter, fold it in half and cover one part of the baking dish with it. Continue with remaining dough sheets the same way till whole baking form is covered. Depending on how big your baking form is you will need 4 or 5 of the dough sheets. Do not worry to be too neat, just make sure the form is all covered.

Pour in the cheesecake mixture. Take a generous amount of the baklava filling using a spoon, form a small ball and let is fall on top of the cheesecake mixture, letting it sink in. Spread some more of the baklava filling on top. Bake for ca. 40 minutes. Take it out of the oven and let the cake rest and cool of for at least 30 minutes. Serve the cake with a splash of the remaining sugar syrup on top.

Enjoy!