This Saturday, April 25th, is ANZAC Day and in addition to commemorating our fallen soldiers, we bake and eat ANZAC biscuits.
This famous biscuit featuring rolled oats, coconut and golden syrup was baked by anxious wives and mothers during World War I and sent to the Australian soldiers in the trenches.
I love ANZAC biscuits and try to bake them every year. You can find my original ANZAC Biscuit recipe here.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the ANZAC landings at Gallipoli, and I wanted to create something extra special. After realising the humble ANZAC biscuit can make a great tart or cake base, I decided to give a patriotic cheesecake a whirl. The caramelised crunchy base contrasts perfectly with the tart and softly set lemon cheesecake topping.
This is a no-bake cheesecake, so the only challenging aspect is waiting patiently for it to set! I topped mine with lemon zest, but you can also top it with crumbled leftover ANZAC biscuits or even edible flowers (preferably native).

Ingredients
ANZAC biscuit base
- 125 g butter
- 4 tbsp golden syrup
- ¼ tsp of baking soda
- 1 tbsp boiling water
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 1 cup plain flour
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ¾ cup desiccated coconut
Lemon Cheesecake
- 400 g cream cheese
- 2/3 cup icing sugar or to taste
- 160 ml double cream
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- Lemon rind to decorate
Instructions
ANZAC biscuit base
- Preheat the oven to 160°C and line 4 small 13cm/5" springform tins (or 1 large 23cm/9" tin) with baking paper.
- Melt together the butter and golden syrup in a saucepan over a low heat.
- In a large bowl, combine oats, flour, brown sugar and coconut.
- Dissolve the baking soda in the boiling water, add to saucepan.
- Combine liquid and dry ingredients.
- If using the small springform tins, press around 1/3 cup of batter into the bottom of each tin. You may have a bit of batter leftover, make small cookies to decorate the cheesecakes, or for snacking :)
- Bake in the oven for around 15 mins or until lightly golden brown.
Lemon Cheesecake
- While the ANZAC biscuit bases are cooling, place the cream cheese and icing sugar in a large mixing bowl and beat until smooth.
- Add in the double cream and lemon juice and beating until smooth and creamy.
- Pour onto the biscuit base and put in the fridge to set for at least 3 hours, but preferably overnight.
- To serve, top with some lemon rind.
I took these mini cheesecakes to a baby shower yesterday and they received rave reviews, so I highly suggest you give these a go yourself!
How are you going to celebrate ANZAC Day this year?
15 Comments
i Always forget how great ANZACs taste. They should definitely be elevated to year round cookie status! Great idea for the cheese cake
I totally agree Lisa! They are one of my fav biscuits and definitely should be elevated to year round status :)
Oh they look wonderful! Can’t wait to make them myself- thanks for sharing :)
You are very welcome xx
I just wanted to say I really love your logo graphic!!! It’s so nice.
Also these lemon cheesecakes look amazing!!!!!! YUM! Thanks for the lovely recipe.
Sarah | Bows & Pleats
Thanks Sarah! I’m a graphic designer so I made it myself :)
wow these look yummy! perfect comforting homely treats to have on ANZAC day. I might just pinch the recipe to try to recreate over in the UK this weekend
Thanks for sharing
You are very welcome! xx
Oh these look absolutely beautiful! The ANZAC base is just perfect. Have a lovely ANZAC Day. Thanks so much for linking up! xx
Thanks Lucy! Hope you had a lovely weekend xxx
yummy scrummy – this looks to delicious for words. :) Im thinking the Anzac base would be amazing with the cheesecake. thanks for this beautiful recipe.
Glad you enjoyed it Dianne! Happy baking :)
What a perfectly lovely idea. The best of both worlds- almost like a carrot cake, without the carrot and in biscuit form.
It made sense to me :)
I am loving your logic Nicole!
[…] you also a fan of no-bake cakes? Then you will love this Lemon Cheesecake recipe. But wait a minute how does cheesecake and Anzac day go together? Well I would say very […]