ANNIE SMITHERS

Something sad has happened to some foods. They have suffered damnation for their ordinariness. Yet when cooked beautifully, they bring a warm smile to people’s faces and an oft-repeated request for “the recipe”, as if I have performed some feat of prestidigitation to transform them into something desirable.

Cheesecake seems to suffer this fate. The phenomenon of being damned for ordinariness first came to my attention when reading Thomas Keller’s The French Laundry. Throughout the book he has a number of essays titled “The Importance of …”. In one such essay, “The Importance of Custard”, he waxed lyrical about the fate of quiche – that limp pastry case with a thin film of rubbery custard that you find in many bakeries, something so far from the deep, luxurious custard in perfect crisp pastry that you can make in the true French style. Cheesecake has been bastardised in the same way, it even has a chain store devoted to churning out an absolutely base-level product.

There are very few things better than a fresh-baked cheesecake. For me, it is all about the perfect, creamy texture. Here, it is topped with cream, baked rhubarb and strawberries. But there are many variants. A simple dusting of nutmeg. A lovely crisp crumble of caramelised oats. Fresh raspberries.

So what is it that elevates a cheesecake from the horrors of the chain store reproduction? I think the main things are the way it is made and the temperature it is eaten at. I’m a great believer in really aerating the mix, so when I mix the cream cheese and the sugar I give it a really solid beating with the paddle of my stand mixer. The other integral part of the process is the cooking. It really does need to be only just cooked. There needs to be the softest of wobbles from the inside when the cheesecake is gently shaken, with the tiniest amount of cracking in the surface near the edges. If overcooked, the final texture will be a little grainy.

And then to the eating – aim for on the day the cheesecake is baked or within 24 hours. The base will be crisp, the filling the perfect texture. Served with whipped pure cream and a choice of toppings, there are few things I enjoy more.