plum, burnt honey & five spice cheesecake
"like peking duck with no duck" ~a friend
i made this for a lovely friend’s birthday and took it camping for the weekend
the plums and baked sour cream topping are a really lovely counterpoint to the rich cream cheese underneath
serves eight to ten generously
ingredients
five spice biscuit base
120g digestives
25g sugar
1 tsp five spice
40g butter
burnt honey cheesecake
65g honey
1 brick (250g) cream cheese
100g sour cream
50g sugar
2 eggs
pinch salt
topping
200g sour cream
0.5 tsp five spice
assembly
4-5 plums, sliced
method
five spice biscuit base
preheat the oven to 165°C
crush the digestives (120g)
stir in the sugar (25g) and five spice powder (1 tsp)
melt the butter (40g), then pour over the biscuit sugar mixture
stir to combine
press into the base of a 20cm cake tin
bake for 10 minutes
burnt honey cheesecake
while the base bakes, add the honey (65g) to a small saucepan and bring to the boil
cook, stirring occasionally, for three to five minutes or until the honey is browned and starts to smoke
reserve a tablespoon of the burnt honey for the topping
set aside the rest of the honey to cool
beat together the cream cheese (250g), sour cream (100g) and sugar (50g) until smooth
add the cooled honey (~50g), eggs (2), and a pinch of salt
beat together until smooth
pour over the biscuit base and bake for a further 20 minutes
topping
while the cheesecake bakes, combine the reserved burnt honey (~15g), sour cream (200g), and five spice powder (0.5 tsp)
gently spoon onto the hot cheesecake
spread evenly across the top of the cheesecake and bake for a further 10 minutes
let cool completely, ideally overnight in the fridge
assembly
right before serving, scatter the plum pieces over the top of the cooled cheesecake
