Banoffee cheesecake

Cheesecake meets banoffee pie in this creamy soft-set caramel dessert, guaranteed to impress at a dinner party or occasion

Ingredients

For the base
200g digestive biscuits, crushed
100g butter, melted, plus extra for frying
4 bananas, peeled and sliced
For the cheesecake
150ml double cream
3 x 280g tubs full-fat cream cheese (not low-fat - this will stop the mixture from setting properly)
85g icing sugar, sifted
1 tbsp maple syrup
300g dulce de leche or caramel sauce (we used we used Carnation Cook with Caramel)
For the topping
150ml double cream (keep chilled, it whips faster)
25g dulce de leche or caramel
1 banana, cut into 8-10 slices

Method

For the base, mix the digestives with the melted butter in a bowl. Spoon the mixture into a 23cm springform cake tin and press firmly over the base with the back of a spoon. Chill in the fridge.

Heat a frying pan until hot and add a knob of butter and the bananas, frying for 2-3 mins until golden brown. Remove from the pan using a slotted spoon and set aside to cool.

Arrange the cooled bananas on top of the biscuit base. For the cheesecake, whisk the double cream using an electric whisk until softly whipped. Put the cream cheese and icing sugar in another large bowl and whisk until smooth.

Make sure you don't over whisk the mixture as it will loosen and stop the cheesecake achieving a soft-set. Add the whipped cream to the cream cheese, as well as the maple syrup and the dulce de leche.

Spoon the sweet cream cheese filling into the cake tin, covering the bananas, and use the back of a spoon or palette knife to spread evenly. Place in the fridge for at least 4 hrs (preferably overnight) to set.

For the topping, whip the cream, put into a piping bag with a medium star-shaped nozzle and set aside. Melt the dulce de leche over a low heat in a small saucepan with a splash of water until it can be drizzled (dulce de leche varies, so you may need to add more water). Place in a second piping bag (or plastic bag) and snip the very end off it, to leave a tiny hole.

Starting from the edge of the cake, swirl the dulce de leche sauce in a circular motion around the cake. Pipe 10-12 medium-sized swirls of whipped cream around the edge of the cheesecake and rest a fresh banana slice on each. Serve immediately.
Source: Good Food