BURNISHED CHEESECAKE WITH MORELLO CHERRIES
MAKES ONE 20CM CAKE
750g cream cheese, at room
temperature
300g sour cream, at room temperature 330g caster sugar
1 tbsp vanilla bean paste
4 eggs, plus 2 egg yolks
2 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)
CHERRY COMPOTE
1 x 670g jar of pitted morello cherries,
drained, syrup reserved
3 tbsp caster sugar
1 star anise
Preheat oven to 210°C fan-forced and grease a 20cm round springform tin with butter. Line base and side with two large rectangles of baking paper, allowing the extra paper to sit up well above the sides of the tin. (The paper will be crinkled and creased but this is as it should be – it just adds to the lovely rustic finish of the cake.) Place cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment and mix until smooth. Add sour cream and mix well before gradually adding sugar. Scrape down the side of the bowl, add vanilla and mix again until smooth. Add eggs and egg yolks, one at a time, mixing well after each.
Spoon about 125ml of batter into a small bowl and add cornflour. Stir until smooth before returning to the bowl with the rest of the batter. Mix well, making sure to scrape down the side of the bowl, until batter is very smooth.
Pour batter into the tin through a sieve. Tap tin gently on the bench a few times to remove any large air bubbles. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes before lowering temperature to 180°C and baking for a further 10-15 minutes, or until burnished and bronzed but still considerably wobbly in the centre.
The cake will continue to cook as it cools. Allow to cool completely in the tin (about 3 hours).
While cake is cooling, make cherry compote. Place 185ml of syrup in a small saucepan along with sugar and star anise. Bring to the boil, then simmer gently for 10-12 minutes or until syrup is slightly reduced. Add cherries to pan and cook for a few minutes to heat through. Stir and set aside to cool.
When ready to serve, gently release cake from the tin and peel away paper from the side.
Slice with a hot knife – wiping it in between slices – and serve with cherry compote. Both cake and compote can be prepared the day before you serve them, as they keep happily in the fridge overnight (just return cake to room temperature and gently warm cherries before serving).
Kitchen note Make sure cream cheese and sour cream are at room temperature before you start. This will ensure a silky-smooth finish. If you don’t have morello cherries on hand, you can serve this cake with any kind of fruit compote you like, but something a little tart works beautifully.