Ginger & Christmas pud cheesecake with ginger sauce

Q Serves 8 Q Prep 20 mins plus cooling and at least 4 hrs chilling Q Cook 1 hr 15 mins

sunflower oil, for the tin

400g full-fat soft cheese

100g mascarpone

1 tsp vanilla paste

2 medium eggs

100g caster sugar

1½ tbsp plain flour

100g Christmas pudding or

fruitcake, crumbled

1 ball stem ginger from a jar, finely

chopped, plus 5 tbsp syrup from the jar ¾ Jamaican ginger loaf cake, sliced into

1.5- or 2cm-thick slices

FOR THE SAUCE

100g dark muscovado sugar

100g butter

100ml double cream

1 Heat the oven to 170C/150C fan/gas 3. Oil a roughly 1.3-litre ovenproof pudding tin, and line with four strips of baking parchment, criss-crossing them in the base of the tin. Beat the soft cheese, mascarpone, vanilla, eggs and sugar together in a stand mixer until combined and light. Fold in the flour, Christmas pud and stem ginger, then spoon into the tin and bake for 1 hr.

2 Check the cheesecake – it should be set with a slight wobble. If it’s not ready, bake for 10 mins more and check again. Leave to cool slightly (it will puff up, then sink a little). Brush with 1 tbsp ginger syrup, then arrange the ginger loaf cake on top, pressing down slightly. Brush with another 1 tbsp syrup, then place a saucer on top to weigh it down. Chill for at least 4 hrs, or up to two days.

3 To make the sauce, simmer everything together with the remaining ginger syrup until thickened. Invert the cheesecake onto a serving plate. Serve with the warm sauce. PER SERVING 640 kcals, fat 43g, saturates 26g,

carbs 54g, sugars 45g, fibre 1g, protein 8g, salt 0.8g