Ingredients

Step by step

1. Line the base and sides of a 20cm springform cake tin. Mix the crushed biscuits with the stem ginger and butter, then press firmly into the base of the tin. Chill for 15 minutes.
2. For the filling, put the plums in a large pan with the caster sugar, 4 tablespoons of water and the cordial or liqueur. Cover and cook for 10 minutes until soft. Meanwhile, soften the gelatine in a bowl of cold water for 5 minutes. Press the plums through a sieve into a measuring jug to remove the skins. Top this juice up to 300ml with water, if needed. Pour 200ml into a pan and reheat gently. Squeeze out the gelatine, add to the pan and stir until melted. Pour into a bowl to cool, and set aside the remaining juice for the glaze.

3. With an electric hand mixer, whisk the soft cheese until smooth, then mix in the cream until the mixture has the consistency of softly whipped cream. Whisk in the cooled gelatine-plum mixture.

4. Pour the mixture onto the biscuit base and smooth the top. Cover and chill for at least 4 hours to set.

5. To make the glaze, soften the gelatine leaves in cold water as before. Put the caster sugar, 100ml reserved plum juice and the cordial or liqueur in a pan and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil and simmer for 2 minutes to reduce slightly. Stir in the cream, remove from the heat, add the squeezed out gelatine and stir until melted.

6. Add enough food colouring to tint it pale pink, mixing it in well. Strain through a fine sieve into a large bowl (to remove any plum fibres) and set aside to cool for 15-20 minutes at room temperature, stirring from time to time to stop it from developing a skin. You want the glaze to be cool enough that it won’t melt the cheesecake, but not so cold that it has started to set – the consistency of double cream is perfect.

7. Carefully unmould the cheesecake, discard the baking paper, and put it on a wire rack set over a baking tray. Run a hot palette knife over the top to smooth the surface, then pour over two-thirds of the cooled glaze. Chill for 10 minutes, then scrape any excess glaze from the tray back into the bowl. Warm the glaze if it has set at all, then apply a second coating to the cheesecake. Chill again for at least 1 hour, or until ready to serve.
8. To make our chocolate snowflake decoration, melt 75g chopped white chocolate. Cool for 10 minutes or until slightly thickened then transfer to a piping bag. Draw a 20cm circle on a sheet of baking paper laid on a tray and pipe a large snowflake design within the circle. The design shouldn’t be too fine, or it will be very fragile to lift once set. Put in the fridge for 15 minutes or until firmly set. Just before serving, carefully lift the snowflake off the paper onto the cheesecake and add the sugar pearls. Use our snowflake template to make your decoration.