Pumpkin Cheesecake

The pumpkin component here may come out of a can, but I don’t see that’s anything to be apologetic about. By all means, make your own purée if you prefer (making absolutely sure it is as drained as drained can be before adding it to the cheese) but that isn’t the point of the exercise. This is the point: a delicate, rich, palest apricot pudding, fluffier and subtler than your regular cheesecake. And it is undoubtedly easier with a processor, if you have one.

For the Cheesecake Base

250 grams digestive biscuits

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

125 grams soft butter

For the Filling

1 x 425 grams can pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)

750 grams cream cheese

200 grams caster sugar

6 large eggs

juice of ½ lemon

Method

Blitz the digestive biscuits and cinnamon in a food processor until they are almost fine crumbs, and then add the butter, cut into pieces. Process again until the crumb mixture starts to clump together like damp sand.

Press the biscuit mixture into the bottom of a 23cm / 9 inch springform tin to create an even layer. Put the tin in the fridge while you make the filling. Preheat the oven to gas mark 3/170°C/150°C Fan/325°F.

Put the pumpkin purée and cream cheese into the processor and run the motor until the cheese blends into the pumpkin. Add the sugar and with the motor running, break the eggs one at a time down the tube of the processor. Scrape down and process again, adding the lemon juice and blitzing to make a smooth mixture.

Wrap the outside of the biscuit-lined springform tin with clingfilm. I give a good few layers to make sure everything is completely waterproof. Now sit this on a large piece of double-layered strong foil and bring it up around the edges of the tin to make a nest. Sit the foil-covered springform tin in a roasting pan.

Scrape the cheesecake filling into the springform tin, and then pour recently boiled water into the roasting pan to a level approximately halfway up the cake tin.

Bake for about 1¾ hours, or until the filling has set with only a small amount of wobble left at its centre; it is worth remembering that it will continue to cook as it cools down. Take the tin out of the water bath and sit it on a cooling rack, removing the foil as you do so. When it is cool enough, put the cheesecake in the refrigerator overnight, before unspringing it from the tin to slice.

MAKE AHEAD / STORE:

Cheesecake will keep, covered, in the fridge for a total of 4 days. The cheesecake can be frozen if made with full-fat cream cheese. Wrap the fully-cooled cheesecake (still in its tin) tightly in a double layer of food wrap and a layer of foil. Freeze for up to 1 month. Unwrap, cover loosely and thaw for 24 hours in the fridge.