Spiced pear and ginger cheesecake with a dark chocolate crumb recipe | Sainsbury`s Magazine (2024)

Lighter than the baked variety, and much easier to make, this cheesecake, studded with spicy ginger and topped with caramelised pears, can be made well ahead of time

Felicity Cloake

Felicity Cloake is a freelance food writer and is the author ofThe A - Z of Eating.

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Ingredients

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Step by step

1. For the pear topping, heat the cranberry juice, sugar and root ginger together in a large saucepan until the sugar dissolves and the liquid starts to simmer. Add the pears and cover with baking paper to keep them submerged. Simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes, then turn off the heat and leave to cool completely – this will take a couple of hours, but they can be left in the liquid overnight. They will turn pink as they cool.
2. Put the ricotta in a sieve set over a bowl and leave to drain. Lightly grease a 23cm round springform tin. Put the biscuits in a food processor, whiz to crumbs, then add the butter, cocoa and salt; whiz again. Press the mixture into the base of the tin and chill for at least 20 minutes while you make the filling.
3. Add the gelatine leaves, one at a time, to a bowl of cold water and leave for 5 minutes to soften. Meanwhile, heat the lemon juice until simmering, then remove from the heat. Remove the gelatine from the water, squeezing out any excess, then add to the lemon juice and stir until dissolved.
4. Put the cream cheese in a large bowl, add the ricotta and beat together until smooth. Stir in the gelatine mixture until combined, then stir in 4 tablespoons of the stem ginger syrup and taste – add more if you prefer it sweeter. Stir in the stem ginger and spoon the mixture onto the base, smoothing the top with the back of a spoon. Chill for at least 4 hours, or overnight, until firm.
5. An hour before you want to serve the cheesecake, strain the pears over a pan and discard the root ginger. Bring the cooking liquor to the boil and simmer rapidly for 10 minutes or until reduced and syrupy. Leave to cool.
6. To serve, loosen the cheesecake all the way around with a knife and carefully remove from the tin. Transfer to a platter or cake stand. Arrange the cooled sliced pears on top, spoon over the syrup and scatter with chopped stem ginger.