Baking

Sour Cherry Cheesecake

Yasmin Khan's delicious cheesecake recipe is paired with a delicious sour cherry compote. It's made with frozen sour cherries, which can be purchased in healthfood shops, or in Polish or Middle Eastern delis. If you can't find sour cherries, use sweet ones, and reduce the amount of sugar in the compote by a third

20 minutes prep, 1 hour, plus chilling cook

Serves 8

Ingredients

200g digestive biscuits

100g unsalted butter, melted

600g full-fat cream cheese, at room temperature

200g strained full-fat Greek-style yogurt

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 tablespoon plain flour

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon finely grated unwaxed lemon zest

1 tablespoon lemon juice

For the topping

400g frozen, pitted sour cherries

150g caster sugar

1 tablespoon cornflour

Method

Line a 23cm springform cake tin with baking parchment. Put the biscuits in a food processer and blitz to crumbs. Alternatively, place them in a plastic bag and hit them with a rolling pin until they are finely crushed (the latter is slightly more therapeutic). Mix the crushed biscuits with the melted butter, then spoon into the prepared tin, pressing down the base to form an even layer. (I sometimes use the base of a cup or glass to even out the crumb.) Transfer to the refrigerator to set.

Beat the cream cheese and yogurt until smooth. Whisk in the sugar, eggs and flour, then the vanilla, lemon zest and juice. Preheat the oven to 160°C/fan 140°C/Gas 3 (and see recipe introduction). Pour the filling into the chilled biscuit base and bake for around 1 hour. You can tell it is cooked when it looks set but still has a wobble in the middle. Now turn off the oven, open its door and leave the cheesecake to cool for 10 minutes without touching it. Remove it from the oven and leave to cool completely, then chill for 4 hours.

To make the topping, place the frozen cherries and sugar in a saucepan over a medium heat. Stir frequently to begin with, so the sugar doesn’t catch. Once the cherries have defrosted and the sauce come to the boil, add the cornflour and simmer for 5 minutes. Set aside and leave to cool.

To serve, either spoon the topping all over the cheesecake, or slice the cheesecake into pieces and place a dollop of cherries on top of each serving.