Vanilla cheesecake with berry compote

By Ross_Hepburn

Ingredients

• For the topping:
• 8 digestive biscuits
• 6 tbsp caster sugar
• 75 g unsalted butter
• For the berries:
• 200 g blueberries
• 100 g strawberries, sliced
• 2 tbsp caster sugar
• Splash of crème de cassis
• For the vanilla cream cheese:
• 400 g cream cheese
• 6 tbsp icing sugar
• Juice 1/2 lemon
• 1 vanilla pod, split
• 600 ml double cream
• Icing sugar to dust
• Fresh mint to garnish

Details

Servings 8
Adapted from channel4.com

Preparation

Step 1

For the topping: grind the biscuits in a food processor. Melt the sugar in a heavy-based non-stick pan until it begins to caramelise, then carefully add the butter, shaking the pan to mix the caramel with the butter as it melts. Add the crushed biscuits and toss to coat in the caramel. Tip on to a plate, chill for 5 minutes until firm, then bash into rough crumbs.

Put 2 tbsp of sugar in a pan and tip in the blueberries and strawberries, add a splash of cassis. Cook over medium-high heat for a minute until the blueberries are slightly soft.

For the vanilla cream cheese, put the cream cheese in a large bowl. Add the seeds from the vanilla pod and icing sugar and beat until smooth, next add the lemon. In another bowl, lightly whip the cream to soft peaks, then fold into the cream cheese mixture.

Spoon the cream cheese mixture into the chef's ring and carefully remove the ring, using a blowtorch to loosen if necessary. Spoon the crumb mix on top of the cheese cakes and dress the fruit compote around the plate. Garnish with fresh mint.