Spicy Ginger & Vanilla Upside-Down Baked Cheesecake

Light, but flavour packed, this is a cheesecake with a difference. As the name indicates, the biscuit base is on top, but it’s not merely biscuit. Nuts and chocolate also compliment the cake’s subtle ginger tang. Add to that a lovely rich sweet sauce and you’ve got a mega-flavoursome treat.

IMGP3958 Tue 20th - Spicy Ginger & Vanila Upside down cheesecake for schl - 10

Servings: 10 – 12                                                            Difficulty: Easy, but some care needed

Time: Around 2 hours + cooling in the oven and overnight in fridge

Credit: Adapted from an original recipe by Nadiya Hussain in her book, “Nadiya’s Family favourites“

Ingredients

For the cheesecake

  • Butter for greasing the tin 
  • 900g/2lb full fat cream cheese
  • 200g/7oz caster sugar
  • 150ml/5.25 fl oz soured cream
  • 3 tbsp plain flour
  • 3 medium eggs, lightly beaten 
  • 2 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract
  • 50g/1.75oz finely chopped sugared ginger

For the honey salted caramel

  • 50g/1.75oz butter
  • 170g/6oz set honey
  • 300ml/10.5 fl oz double cream
  • half tsp salt

For the crunchy topping

  • 80g/2.75oz unsalted butter
  • 160g/5.5oz ginger biscuits, roughly crushed
  • 30g/1oz demerara sugar
  • 50g/1.75oz dark chocolate chips
  • 50g/1.75oz toasted hazelnuts, roughly chopped
  • 30g/1oz sugared ginger – small pieces

Equipment

  • 20cm/8″ round deep cake tin (NOT loose bottomed)
  • Deep sided tin big enough to hold the cake tin (as a bain marie)

Directions

    Day 1
  1. Preheat the oven to 160C/Fan 140C/Gas 3. Grease and line the cake tin – sides and bottom.
  2. Put the cream cheese, sugar, soured cream, flour, eggs and vanilla into a large bowl and mix well. If using a stand mixer keep the speed low. Take care not to over beat as this will introduce unwanted air. When smooth, stir in the ginger pieces. (NB All the ingredients need to be at room temperature to aid even mixing.)
  3. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and tap it firmly on the work surface to release any trapped air. Level the surface and place the cake tin in the larger tin. Half fill with hot water and place on a low shelf in the oven. Bake for an hour.
  4. After an hour, turn the oven off, leaving the cheesecake inside. Leave the oven door slightly open (wedge it if necessary), so that the cheesecake will cool very slowly.
  5. When the oven and the cheesecake are fully cool, take the cheesecake out and put it in the fridge to chill overnight.

    6.  

    Day 2

  6. To make the honey salted caramel, put the butter into a small saucepan on a medium heat. When the butter has melted, add the honey and cook on a medium/high heat for ten minutes, until the caramel is golden brown. At this point pour in the cream, mix it in and allow it to come to the boil. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the salt. Set aside.
  7. To make the crunchy topping put the biscuits into a bag and bash them with a rolling pin or similar item. (You could pulse them in a food processor, but take care not to overdo it as you’re aiming for a mixture of big and small pieces.) Pour the pieces into a bowl.
  8. Melt the butter and pour over the biscuits. Stir well, ensuring that all pieces are coated  in butter. While this is cooling, take the cheesecake out of the fridge and turn it out carefully onto a serving plate. (NB It may not matter which side is uppermost, top and bottom will probably be identical.)
  9. Add the sugar, chocolate chips, hazelnuts and ginger pieces to the buttery biscuit mixture. Mix well. Randomly pile this on top of the cheesecake. Don’t try to be neat. Allow some to fall round the bottom of the cake.
  10. When ready to serve, pour the caramel over the top. (If necessary, warm it a little so that it runs smoothly, but avoid having it too hot or it will melt the cheesecake.)