Ginger & Christmas pud cheesecake with ginger sauce

• flavourless oil

  for greasing

• 2 x 200g tubs full-fat cream cheese g
• mascarpone↗100g g
• vanilla↗1 tsp tsp

  paste

• medium eggs↗2
• caster sugar↗100g g
• plain flour↗1 ½ tbsp tbsp
• 100g Christmas pudding g

  crumbled (use an individual one if you don't have any leftover, or a rich fruitcake)

• ball stem ginger↗1

  from a jar, plus 5 tbsp syrup from the jar

• ¾ Jamaican ginger loaf

  cake, sliced into 1.5-2cm-thick slices

• dark brown muscovado sugar↗100g g
• butter↗100g g
• double cream↗100ml ml

Step-by-step instructions

1. 1

   Heat oven to 170C/150C fan/gas 5. Grease and line a roughly 1.3-litre ovenproof pudding basin with 4 strips of baking parchment, criss-crossing the bowl like spokes of a wheel. Beat the cream cheese, mascarpone, vanilla, eggs and sugar with an electric mixer until combined and light. Fold in the flour, Christmas pud and stem ginger, then spoon into the prepared tin. Carefully put in the oven.

2. 2

   Check after 1 hr – it should be set with a slight wobble; you may need to give it 10 mins more. Remove and allow to cool slightly (it will puff up, then sink a little). Brush with 1 tbsp ginger syrup, then arrange the ginger loaf cake on top, pressing to form a base. Brush with 1 tbsp more syrup, then place a saucer on top to press down. Chill for at least 4 hrs (or up to 2 days).

3. 3

   To make the sauce, bubble together all the ingredients plus 3 tbsp ginger syrup in a saucepan until syrupy. Turn the cheesecake out onto a serving plate and serve with the hot ginger sauce.