Recipe: Baked cheesecake with spiced plum topping

Looking for a showstopping late summer dessert? Try this baked cheesecake with plum topping created by Dorset’s Baking Bird, Lizzie Crow

This is so easy to make, the trickiest thing is leaving it to cool in the oven! Top the finished cheesecake with the plums or fresh summer berries. I use a loose-base deep round cake tin (15cm) lined with baking parchment for this recipe which feeds 4 – 6 with a modest slice.

For the base

125g digestive biscuits, crushed with a rolling pin

1 tablespoon sugar

50g melted butter

For the filling

550g cream cheese at room temperature

150g caster sugar

3 eggs and 2 egg yolks

spoonful of crème fraiche

heaped teaspoon of orange zest

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

For the plum topping

4 eating plums, cut into quarters, stones removed

tablespoon sugar

seeds from one cardamom pod

Method

1 Preheat oven to gas mark 4/ 180°C. Make the base by mixing the crushed biscuits, sugar and melted butter together. Press into the bottom of the parchment-lined tin and bake for about 10 minutes.

2 Make the filling by beating the cream cheese until smooth. Add the sugar and eggs, one at a time, beat well between each. Stir in all other ingredients. Pour the mixture on top of the biscuit base and bake for

10 minutes, then turn the oven down very low to gas mark ½/ 130°C and leave for at least 1 ½ hours (it will be firm to the touch when ready). Switch off the oven and leave to cool (about 3 hours). Finally put the cooled cheesecake in the fridge to chill.

3 Make the plum topping. Put the quartered plums, sugar and cardamom seeds into a small saucepan and gently cook over a low heat for 20 minutes until jammy, keep an eye that it doesn’t catch, leave to cool. Top the chilled cheesecake with the plum mix and serve with Dorset clotted cream.

Find more recipe ideas from Lizzie here