What you’ll need..

For the sauce

75g Butter

75g Golden caster sugar

65g Soft dark brown sugar

200ml Double cream

A pinch of sea salt

For the base

150g Pecans

250g Digestive biscuits

175g Melted butter

For the filling

5 eggs

150g Golden caster sugar

600g mascarpone

2 tbsp cornflour

1 vanilla pod

For the salted pecans

75g Pecans

1 Egg white

2 Good pinches of flakey sea salt

30g Caster sugar

What to do..

For the sauce

Prepare the sauce first and leave to cool whilst making the base and filling.

Place all the ingredients in a saucepan and heat on a medium heat until the sugar dissolves and the sauce starts to bubble, turn down to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes or until your sauce has thickened and taken on a familiar toffee colour.

For the base

Blend the pecans and digestives separately in a food process using short burst. Try not to go too fine, especially with the nuts as you want to leave some texture to add a crunch to the base.

In a mixing bowl combine the nuts and biscuits with the melted butter and stir until the butter is well mixed through.

Line a 10” cake tin with baking parchment (click here for our lesson on lining cake tins) and press the biscuit mixture into the base of the tin.

For the filling

In a stand mixer with the beater (k shaped) attachment or using an electric whisk beat the eggs and sugar until ribbon stage. Add the mascarpone and the seeds of the vanilla pod and slowly continue to beat until the cheese is completely combined and the mix has no lumps.

Remove from the mixer and careful but thoroughly fold in the corn flour with a large spatula or spoon. This is best to do in 3 stages to avoid lumps getting lost in your mixture. Once you are happy the mix is sufficiently smooth pour it into your baking tin.

Take 2 or 3 spoonfuls of your sauce and in a spiral motion pour into your cheesecake mixture.

Bake @ 135 C for 35-40 minutes or until firm but with a nice wobble. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

For the salted pecans

Whilst the cheesecake is in the oven, beat 1 egg white and toss the pecans in it to coat them, place in a sieve and tap off any excess egg. In a separate bowl mix the salt and sugar. Toss the pecans in the sugar/salt mix until coated. Place in a baking tray and add to oven with the cheesecake for 5 mins then remove and cool.

To finish

Once the cheesecake has cooled by half pour enough of the remaining toffee sauce on top of the cheesecake to cover to the edges and sprinkle with the coated pecans. Put in the fridge to set for an hour or preferably overnight. Remove from the tin, cut into 12 slices. Serve with any excess toffee sauce you may have left.

Lovely.