Banoffee Cheesecake

 This is possibly the greatest dessert ever invented. A crispy digestive biscuit base, a smooth and creamy banana-cream cheese mix and a sweet and sticky toffee sauce. The inspiration from this recipe came from this one by Delia Smith, however I have used different methods for the base and the sauce.

 The trick is to make sure the cheesecake doesn't get over cooked. To do this after about 25 minutes in the oven check the cake every five minutes or so - the cake is done when the centre of the cake still wobbles but the rest is set. Also, let the cheesecake cool down in the oven and reach room temperature before refrigerating it - this will stop the top from getting cracks. It is best to let the cheesecake set overnight, but it will be good to go after a couple of hours in the fridge.

Banoffee Cheesecake
Serves 6-8

Base

300g digestive biscuits
150g butter (melted)

Cheesecake Mix

3 bananas
1T lemon juice
3 eggs
350g cream cheese
200ml double cream
175g sugar

Toffee Sauce

100g brown sugar
100g unsalted butter
150ml double cream


Method

Using a rolling pin, smash the biscuits in to crumbs. (The easiest way is to put the biscuits in a zip lock bag and then smash them.)

Mix in the melted butter.

Spread the mix in to the base of a greased 8"/20cm cake pan. Ensure the mix is pressed down and then refrigerate for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 150C.

In the meantime mash the bananas together with the lemon juice and then mix in all other cheesecake mix ingredients until smooth.

Pour the cheesecake mix in to the cake pan and bake for 30-40 minutes, checking regularly to make sure the cake doesn't overcook.

Whilst the cake is baking make the toffee sauce - put all sauce ingredients together in a saucepan and cook on a low heat until the sugar has melted and the sauce has thickened with a rich toffee colour. Let cool.

Allow the cheesecake an hour or so to cool in the oven. Then pour over the toffee sauce. Refrigerate the cake for a few hours, ideally overnight.

Remove the cake from the cake tin and serve with any remaining toffee sauce and some fresh banana slices.