Salted Caramel and Vanilla Baked Cheesecake Recipe

Here's the recipe for the salted caramel cheesecake as promised. I have added my alterations in bold. Enjoy!

500g plain sweet biscuits

1/2 cup (60g) almond meal

150g butter, melted 240g

350g ricotta

500g cream cheese

1 cup (175g) brown sugar 250g

4 eggs

2 tablespoons golden syrup

1/4 teaspoon table salt

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup (250ml) single cream

1 cup (240g) sour cream

1 tablespoon icing sugar, sifted

sea salt flakes, for sprinkling

Caramel Sauce

1 cup (250ml) single cream

60g butter, chopped 85g

1 cup (175g) brown sugar 250g

To make the caramel sauce, place the cream, butter and sugar in a saucepan over low heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Increase the heat to high, bring to the boil and cook for 5-7 minutes or until thickened. Set aside and allow to cool.

Preheat oven to 160C. Place the biscuits and almond meal in the bowl of a food processor and process until coarsely chopped. Add the butter and process to combine. Press the biscuit mixture into the base and sides of a lightly greased 22cm springform cake tin. Refrigerate for 1 hour. There will be way too much biscuit mixture for the base. 500g of biscuits is too much but I had already followed the recipe and added the butter before I realised is was very wrong! I will do half the amount next time. Also, use a straight sided drinking glass to help push the biscuits up the sides of the tin. This way you get a really neat and even finish and it's much less fiddly.

Place the ricotta and cream cheese in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 5-6 minutes or until smooth. Add the sugar and beat for 3-4 minutes or until combined. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the golden syrup, table salt and 1 teaspoon of vanilla and beat until well combined. Spoon the mixture into the biscuit shell. place the tin in a baking dish and pour enough boiling water to come halfway up the sides of the tin. I highly recommend covering the outside of the tin in foil before putting in the water bath so you don't get any water seeping into the tin! Bake for 1 hour 30 minutes or until firm to the touch. Remove cheesecake from the baking dish and allow to cool in the tin. Refrigerate for 3 hours or until set.

Place the cream, sour cream. icing sugar and remaining vanilla essence in a bowl and whisk until soft peaks form. Top the cheesecake with the cream, drizzle with the caramel sauce and sprinkle with sea salt flakes to serve. Serves 8-10.