Baked Cheesecake Recipe With Roasted Cherries

Heat the oven to 120°C. Invert the base of a 20cm springform round cake tin so that the flat side is facing upwards. Lightly grease the tin and line the base and sides with baking parchment, then wrap foil around the whole sides of the tin. Find a deep roasting tin that fits the cake tin in easily.

Melt the butter for the biscuit base then crush the biscuits into fine crumbs. The easiest way to do this is in a food processor. If not, use a Ziploc bag, some elbow grease and a rolling pin. Once crushed, mix with the melted butter. Tip into the tin and pat into an even base layer, then put into the fridge to chill while you make the filling.

For the filling, whisk together the sugar, flour and salt in a large bowl. Add the soft cheese, vanilla and lemon juice and whisk until smooth – you don’t want any lumps. Add the eggs and egg yolks one at a time, whisking in between each addition. Then finally, whisk in the soured cream.

Boil the kettle. Pour the cheesecake filling on top of the biscuit base, then transfer the unbaked cheesecake to the roasting tin. Pour the boiling water into the roasting tin so that it comes up at least halfway up the sides of the cake tin.

Carefully transfer to the centre of the oven and bake for 1 hr-1 hr 10 mins until the cheesecake is set around the edges and has the slightest jiggle in the centre. Once baked, leave to cool in the water bath for around 2 hrs, then put into the fridge to chill for at least 3 hrs, or preferably overnight.

For the roasted cherries, heat the oven to 220°C. De-stone and halve the cherries, then transfer them to a roasting tray with the caster sugar and lemon juice. Roast for 5-8 mins until the cherries are beginning to collapse and char in places and have released their own banging syrup. Leave to cool.

Unmould the cheesecake, then cut into fat slices and serve with the roasted cherries. Unreal.