A rich, creamy cheesecake cut by a sharper fruit topping. Simply delicious.

‘There is a tradition at Leon that if the team at one of the restaurants does something special, we bake them a cake. I baked this one for Remi and his team at our Cannon Street branch after they posted record sales. Putting the gingernuts in the base is a trick I learned from my mum. I figured they would go well with the blueberries’ Henry Dimbleby.

Serves: 8–10

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 45 minutes–1 hour

What You’ll Need: 

• 125g digestive biscuits
• 125g gingernuts
• 90g unsalted butter
• 550g cream cheese
• 125g caster sugar
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• seeds from 1 vanilla pod
• 200g crème fraîche or soured cream
• 100g thick Greek yoghurt
• 3 large free-range eggs

For the blueberry topping:

• 2 small punnets of blueberries
• 2 teaspoons cornflour
• 3 tablespoons water

What To Do:

1. Heat the oven to 160°C/325°F/gas mark 3.
2. Crush the biscuits to a fine powder in a food processor. Decant them into a bowl. Melt the butter and pour it over the biscuit crumbs, stirring to fully coat them.
3. Press the biscuit mixture into the base of a deep 20cm springform or loose-bottomed cake tin, then put it into the fridge to firm up.
4. Beat the cream cheese, caster sugar, lemon juice and vanilla seeds together until creamy. Mix in the crème fraîche and yoghurt, then the eggs and beat until smooth.
5. Spoon the filling over the chilled biscuit base. Smooth over the top and bake in the oven for 45 minutes, or until the filling has set (it may need a further 10 minutes).
6. Place the tin on a wire rack to cool completely, then run a small paring knife around the inside of the tin to help release the cheesecake from the tin.
7. Toss the blueberries in the cornflour and put them in a small saucepan with the water. Heat whilst stirring until the blueberries are bubbling and start to break up. Allow to cool then spoon over the top of the cheesecake.
8. Cherries are always welcome on a cheesecake, as are cranberries. Add a teaspoon of almond extract for the cherry version, and finely grated orange zest with the cranberry version.