Mini cherry cheesecake recipe

These mini cherry cheesecakes are a classic dessert and perfect for fancy dinner parties or romantic meals.

If you're creating them for a special meal, they have the great advantage that you can make them in advance and then just leave them to chill and set for several hours before serving. You can remove them from the cooking rings just before the meal so all you need to do immediately before serving is spoon the topping over them. They require no cooking (except to heat the cherries and melt the butter on the hob). In order to get the right consistency for the filling and topping, you will need a couple of specialist cooking ingredients - gelatine leaves and arrowroot (see tip below), but these are easy to source in supermarkets.

Ingredients

• 125g chocolate digestives, finely crushed
• 30g butter, melted
• 3 leaves of gelatine
• 200g carton full-fat soft cheese
• 100g caster sugar
• 1⁄2 x 200ml carton crème fraîche
• Finely zested rind of 1 lemon
• 1 medium egg white

For the topping:

• 250g cherries, stoned
• 4 tbsp caster sugar
• 1 level tbsp arrowroot
• 2 tbsp kirsch
• Sprigs of mint, for garnis

Method

1. To make the base: Lightly coat 4 cooking rings or plain round cutters (about 6cm (2½in) in diameter) with a layer of butter or flavourless oil. Set them on a small baking tray, lined with baking parchment. Mix together the crushed biscuits and butter. Divide the biscuit mixture between the four cooking rings and press down firmly, then chill until set.
2. To make the filling: Place the gelatine leaves in a bowl of cold water and leave them to sponge. Beat together the cream cheese, sugar, crème fraîche and lemon zest. Squeeze out the excess water from the gelatine and melt it, either in a microwave oven or in a bowl over a pan of hot water and beat it into the cheese mixture. Whisk the egg whites until stiff and fold into the cheese mixture. Divide the mixture between the rings and then chill in the fridge for a few hours, or overnight, until set.
3. To make the topping: Pour 100ml water into a saucepan and add the cherries and sugar. Bring to the boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Simmer for 2-3 mins until the cherries are tender. Blend the arrowroot with 2 tbsp water and pour into the pan, stirring well so that the juices thicken. Simmer for a further minute then remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the kirsch then leave the mixture to cool.
4. Remove the cheesecakes from the rings by using a palette knife under them to lift them from the baking parchment and then heating the sides, either using a gas flame or wrap a hot cloth around them (for example a clean tea-towel dipped in hot water and then wrung out very well), but take care not to melt them too much. Place on serving plates and then spoon the cherry mixture on top and garnish with a sprig of mint.

Top tip for making mini cherry cheesecake

If you don’t have cooking rings or cutters, make and serve the cheesecakes in ramekin dishes.

What is arrowroot?

Arrowroot is a starch, usually in powder form, and used in place of cornflour as a thickening agent. In this recipe, it allows the topping to hold together more and almost set on top of the cheesecake. You can find it in the home baking section of larger supermarkets. If you do have any, you can use another thickening agent instead, such as instant tapioca or cornflour. Arrowroot has the advantage of being gluten-free.

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