Recipes

Mark Scott's Spiced Cherry Cheesecake won the prize for Most Original at CherryBake at Borough Market for National Cherry Day.

For the Ginger Shortbread Base

    100g butter
    50g caster sugar
    170g plain flour
    1 tsp ground ginger
    1/2 tsp freshly grated ginger

For the Cheesecake

    1.8kg fresh English cherries, stoned
    100g caster sugar
    500ml double cream
    500g Mascarpone
    1 tsp vanilla extract
    1/2 tsp freshly grated ginger
    1 tbsp Baileys
    2 inch piece Cinnamon stick
    4 cloves

Method

Make the base by mixing the butter and sugar to form a paste. Then mix in the flour and ginger to form a soft dough. Take a 9 inch cake tin and press the dough into the removable bottom until evenly spread and cook at 180C for 10 minutes. Remove and allow to cool completely.

Whisk the double cream and 50g sugar until quite stiff. Put the cheese in a separate bowl and mix to soften. Add in the Baileys and fresh ginger. Now mix this with the cream and sugar.

Take half of the cherries and place in a pan on a low heat. Add the remaining sugar, cloves and cinnamon and allow to cook to a jammy texture. Remove the cloves and cinnamon and again allow to cool.

Spread half the cheesecake mixture on the shortbread base. Spread the cherry jam mixture and spread evenly on top. Now take the remaining cheesecake mixture and spread this on top. Finally place the remaining cherries on top to form a nice appearance. Chill the cheesecake for two hours before serving.