Davidson plum cheesecake

This is easy, and you can make it the day before, leaving it in the fridge overnight to set. Not much can go wrong! If you can, buy the Davidson plums frozen and make a syrup to go over the top of the cheesecake – it creates a really beautiful garnish for this dessert.

Davidson plum cheesecake. Credit: Murdoch Books / Cath Muscat

• serves

  4-6

• prep

  15 minutes

Ingredients

• 200 g digestive biscuits, crushed
• 100 g butter, melted
• Davidson plum syrup, to serve (optional, see tip)

Filling

• 500 g cream cheese, chopped
• ¾ cup (165 g) caster sugar
• 1 tbsp Davidson plum powder, plus extra for sprinkling
• 300 ml thickened cream
• ¼ cup (60 ml) lemon juice
• 2 tsp dried lemon myrtle, plus extra for sprinkling
• 1 tbsp gelatine powder
• ¼ cup (60 ml) boiling water

Chilling time: 1-2 hours and then overnight.

Instructions

1. Combine the crushed biscuit and butter in a bowl, then press into the base of a 20 cm round springform pan. Chill for 1–2 hours.
2. Meanwhile, make the filling. Beat the cream cheese, sugar and plum powder in an electric mixer until smooth. Add the cream, lemon juice and lemon myrtle. Continue beating until smooth. Combine the gelatine and boiling water in a small bowl until dissolved, then pour the gelatine mixture over the cream cheese mixture and beat until combined.
3. Pour the filling over the biscuit base and chill overnight.
4. Sprinkle the cheesecake with extra plum powder and lemon myrtle and serve with Davidson plum syrup, if using.

Tips

• To make a Davidson plum syrup, roughly chop about 6 frozen Davidson plums. Make a sugar syrup with ⅓ cup (75 g) white sugar and ½ cup (125 ml) water, boiling until the sugar dissolves and the mixture reduces. Add the plums and simmer until the liquid is a syrup consistency. Cool in the fridge.
• Make the cheesecake up to 2 days ahead.

This is an edited extract from Aunty Beryl’s Cookbook by Beryl Van-Oploo, photography by Cath Muscat (Murdoch Books RRP $49.99).

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.