Additional Ingredients

For filling:

2	Coxes Apples
50 grams	Butter unsalted
2 tbsp	Calvados
900 grams	Ricotta cheese
200 grams	Golden Caster Sugar (Billington's)
50 grams	Plain White Flour (Allinson Nature Friendly)
4	Free Range Eggs (Happy Eggs) large, beaten
1 tsp	Cinnamon
2 tsp	Pure Vanilla Extract Blend (Nielsen-Massey)

Further Additional Ingredients

	For the topping:
	1-2 coxes apples
25 grams	Light Muscovado Sugar (Billington's)
0.50 tsp	Cinnamon
	Icing Sugar (Silver Spoon Homegrown) to dust
	For the spun sugar:
200 grams	Golden Caster Sugar (Billington's)

How to make Ricotta and Apple Cheesecake

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1. Preheat oven 180c and grease a loose 22cm springform tin with butter, then line base with baking paper.
2. Prepare the base by crushing digestives in a freezer bag with a rolling pin. Place the crushed biscuits in a bowl and mix with the melted butter. Press the biscuit mixture evenly into base of your prepared tin. Bake in oven for 10mins, then remove and cool for at least 5 minutes.
3. Reduce oven temperature to 170c.
4. For the filling, peel and core apples and cut into small cubes. Melt butter in frying pan, add the caster sugar and sauté apple cubes until they turn golden brown, keep shaking the pan so the apples don’t stick. Pour the Calvados into the pan, set alight to flambé the apples. Leave to cool.
5. Place the ricotta in a large bowl and stir with a spatula so it is nice and smooth. Stir in caster sugar and flour, the cinnamon and the vanilla, then gradually add the eggs to this ricotta mixture, one at a time. Finally, sieve the cubes of sauted apple to remove any remaining liquid and gently fold the apple cubes only into the cheesecake mixture. Pour the cheesecake filling onto the cooked biscuit base in your prepared cake tin.
6. For the topping, peel and core the apples and cut into thin slices. Arrange on top of the cheesecake mixture. Sprinkle cinnamon and brown sugar over the top.
7. Bake in centre of preheated oven for about 1 and half hours – until the cheesecake is a golden colour. Make sure the centre is fairly firm and that the point of sharp knife inserted in centre comes out clean.
8. Cool in tin on wire rack. The cheesecake will sink slightly as it cools. Cover and chill until ready to serve. Finish with a dusting of icing sugar.
9. To make spun sugar, heat the caster sugar on the hob to make a dark caramel. Once it has melted and turned a deep golden brown colour, plunge the pan into the sink of cold water and allow to cool and thicken for a couple of minutes. Then cover your kitchen floor with some newspaper and find a friend to help – your friend needs to stand holding two wooden spoons, which have been lightly oiled with sunflower oil. Your friend needs to hold one spoon in each hand, while you quickly ‘spin’ the sugar between the two wooden spoons. The spun sugar will quickly set, and you can then use it to decorate the top of your cheesecake.

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