Raspberry cheesecake (in three easy steps)

There’s something different about the photo for this dessert – the raspberry cheesecake is half-eaten. That’s because my parents came round for dinner, and we tucked in well before I remembered to snap it. The eagle-eyed will also spot the cheesecake topping is a bit runny – that’s another sign of my greed: I made the dessert only an hour before we ate it and didn’t give it enough chilling time.

But it was so tasty that I wanted to post the recipe up here, and expect you’re far more patient and will enjoy perfect cheesecakes.

This is a really easy, tasty and quick dessert. The basic method is, bash up biscuits, mix with butter, put in a tin, mix your toppings and sprinkle fruit on top. The full recipe is below, and you won’t find very much harder.

Base:

100g butter

200g digestive biscuits

1 ½ tablespoons sugar (I used brown for the deep colour, but use whatever’s in your cupboard)

Filling:

100g cream cheese

50g sugar (this time caster sugar or any white sugar is best)

100g creme fraiche or sour cream (yes they’re different, but having tried both I guarantee they both make delicious versions)

2 tablespoons vanilla extract

Fruit of your choice

Method

1. Melt the butter in a bowl (microwave or bain marie) then crush the biscuits (I do it just by squeezing a handful at a time: good stress reliever) into the bowl.

2. Stir into this the brown sugar, and spoon the mixture spread along the base of a lined tin – a 20cm square or round one is about right. Refrigerate for up to an hour.

3. Mix the cream cheese, vanilla extract and caster sugar, plus sour cream or creme fraiche. Then spoon over the filling, and put it back in the fridge for a couple of hours, or until set. Pop some raspberries, strawberries or your chosen fruit on top before serving, then gobble and enjoy.