Irish cream crème brûlée cheesecake

Spoons at the ready to crack the crisp caramel on top of this creamy baked cheesecake.

SERVES 12 PREP 25min, plus cooling and overnight chilling COOK about 1¼hr

• 125g butter, melted, plus extra to grease

• 250g digestive biscuits

• 550g full-fat cream cheese

• 200g caster sugar

• 200ml double cream

• 100ml Irish cream liqueur

• ½tbsp vanilla bean paste

• 3 large eggs, beaten

1 Preheat oven to 170°C (150°C fan) mark 3. Grease a 23cm round springform tin and line with baking parchment. Blitz biscuits in a food processor until finely crushed (or bash them in a food bag with a rolling pin). Add melted butter and pulse/ mix until combined. Tip into prepared tin, level and press firmly with back of a spoon. Bake for 15min, remove from oven. Leave to cool slightly.

2 Reduce oven temperature

to 160°C (140°C fan) mark 3. In a large bowl, whisk cream cheese and 150g sugar until smooth. Add cream, liqueur and vanilla; whisk to combine. Whisk in eggs until combined. Pour over biscuit base.

3 Put an ovenproof dish half-filled with hot water on bottom shelf of oven. Bake cheesecake on shelf above for 45min-1hr, until just set with a slight wobble. Turn off oven and leave to cool completely with door ajar. Once cool, chill overnight to set.

4 To serve, peel off baking parchment and transfer cheesecake to a cake stand or plate. Sprinkle remaining caster sugar evenly over the top and use a blowtorch to gently caramelise the sugar. Serve.

GET AHEAD Caramelise the sugar up to 1hr ahead. Keep cheesecake at room temperature before serving.