This is a mash-up of two favourite desserts from my childhood – Mum's creme caramel and her baked sour cream cheesecake.
Ingredients
1½ cups wholemeal digestive biscuits, finely crumbled
¼ cup finely chopped walnuts
125g butter, melted
500g cream cheese, softened
3 eggs, lightly beaten
125g castor sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp cornflour
150g sour cream
Caramel topping
1 cup sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
Method
1. Heat your oven to 150C. Combine the biscuit crumbs, walnuts and butter together in a bowl and mix well. Press this mix into the base and the sides of a 23cm spring-form cake tin.
2. Using a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese, eggs, sugar, vanilla extract, cornflour and sour cream until the mixture is smooth. Pour into the cake tin, leaving a gap of about ¾cm between the top of the mixture and the top of the sides of the biscuit base. Bake for 50 minutes, then turn off the oven. Allow to cool in the oven for 2 hours without opening the door. Remove and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, but preferably overnight.
3. While the cheesecake is cold, transfer it to a serving plate.
4. To make the caramel topping, place the sugar in a small saucepan over a high heat and bring to a dark caramel. Add one-third of a cup of water and stir until the mixture is a thick liquid. Stir through the vanilla and pour over the cheesecake. Allow to stand for 10-15 minutes before serving.