Looking for something sweet and simple to serve on Mother’s Day? Here’s a tasty dessert courtesy of Del Monte. It’s vegetarian and gluten-free, and serves 10-12, so Mum doesn’t have to eat it all herself!
Prep time: 30 minutes. Cook time: 1 hour, plus overnight chilling
Ingredients:
- 680g full-fat cream cheese
- 250g caster sugar
- Good pinch of salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 25g cornflour
- 4 medium eggs
- 300ml double cream
Ingredients for the mandarins:
- 2 cans (298g) Del Monte® Mandarin Segments in Juice
- 4 tbsp soft light brown sugar
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 star anise
- 5-6 cardamom pods, slightly squashed
See also: Peach Frangipane Slice for Mother’s Day
Method:
- Make the cheesecake the day before you want to serve it. Preheat the oven to 200C/gas 6 and find a 20cm round springform tin. Take a large piece of baking parchment, more than big enough to line the tin, and scrunch it up in your hands – this makes the paper easier to manipulate. Unscrunch the paper and put it in the tin, using a smaller cake tin to help mould it to the sides. Don’t worry about the creases and wrinkles – these are all part of the look of the cheesecake! If you have a mixer, put the cream cheese, sugar, salt, vanilla and cornflour into it and beat them thoroughly together. Otherwise, do this in a large mixing bowl, beating until smooth.
- Add the eggs and start beating them into the cream cheese mixture, gradually pouring in the cream as you go. If you’re using a mixing bowl, beat in the eggs one at a time before beating in the cream. You want a nice, smooth mixture.
- Pour the mixture carefully into the lined tin and transfer to the oven. Bake for 50-60 minutes until the cheesecake is puffed up, very brown at the edges and a rich golden brown in the centre. It should have a slight wobble in the middle still. Take out of the oven and leave to cool completely in the tin – it will sink as it cools. Transfer to the fridge and refrigerate overnight.
- While the cheesecake is baking, make the spiced mandarins. Drain the juice from both cans into a saucepan. Add the brown sugar and whole spices and put over a medium heat. Stir until the sugar is dissolved, then let the juice come to a brisk simmer and cook for about 10 minutes until the liquid is reduced and syrupy. Take off the heat, add the mandarin segments and stir gently. Leave to cool then refrigerate.
- When you’re ready to serve, carefully remove the paper and transfer the cheesecake to a serving plate. Serve in slices, with a generous spoonful of the mandarins and their syrup.
See also: Mother’s Day Breakfast Recipe
