Serves 10

For the cheese mixture

450g curd or cream cheese

4 large eggs

Christmas puddings and cakes

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• Butter-roasted turkey

• Proper red cabbage

• Stuffed squash

1 tsp vanilla essence

150g caster sugar

2 tsp lemon juice

For the base

8 gingernut biscuits

8 digestive biscuits

1 tsp ground cinnamon

75g butter, melted

For the topping

350g blackberries

3 tbsp caster sugar

2 tsp arrowroot, mixed with 1 tbsp water

1 extra digestive biscuit, crushed

Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas

Mark 3. You will need a 21½.5cm cake tin with a loose base.

Put the first batch of ingredients into a bowl and whizz with an electric mixer until absolutely smooth. Then crush the biscuits — a rolling pin and a flat surface will do it in seconds — scoop them of the tin, bringing it up about 1cm at the edges. Pour in the cheese mixture

and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until firm and set in the centre, then turn off the oven and leave the cheesecake in there until it is cool.

Wash the blackberries, simmer with the caster sugar (but no water) for a few minutes, then drain in a sieve over a bowl. Add the arrowroot-and-water mixture to the blackberry juice and boil until thickened. Mix the thickened juice with the drained fruit and top the cake with the mixture when cool. Sprinkle biscuit crumbs around the edges and thoroughly chill.

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