This creamy, fruity version of the famous baked cheesecake has been conjured up by Lee Gaskins, head chef at Highgate House in Creaton.
Ingredients (serves 8):
Cheesecake base:
80g butter
200g Digestive biscuits
1x 22.5cm loose-bottomed, deep, round baking tin
Cheesecake filling:
500g cream cheese
3 medium eggs
175g caster sugar
Vanilla essence to taste
Cheesecake topping:
200g dried apricots
1 tbsp caster sugar or honey
1 star anise
1 whole clove
Half a vanilla pod
Finely grated zest of half an orange
Juice of 2 oranges
Splash Grand Marnier
Mascarpone cream:
125ml double cream
100g mascarpone cheese
1 tsp icing sugar
Half a vanilla pod
Method:
Preheat the oven to 150°C. Crush the biscuits and melt the butter, then add the melted butter to the biscuits and mix thoroughly. Line the base of the tin with the biscuit mix.
Beat the cheese a little to soften. Add the eggs, sugar and vanilla essence and mix gently until ingredients are just combined. Pour the mix over the base and bake for 20 – 25 minutes until the filling is set in the centre.
For the apricot compote topping, place all ingredients into saucepan with 150ml of water, bring quickly to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Leave the mixture to cool; it should be served at room temperature. All of the above can be prepared well in advance and refrigerated, the compote gently warmed when needed.
For the mascarpone cream, whip the cream until it forms soft peaks. Stir the mascarpone to soften it and fold it through the cream, being careful not to over-whip. Add and fold through the icing sugar. Split the vanilla pod in half, remove the seeds from one half and add these to the cream. The rest of the pod can be stored in caster sugar until needed: this also infuses the sugar.
Serve as shown.