It’s currently 34C here in Melton Mowbray, I’m sat in the garden sipping on a lagerita and feeling very thankful.

I find myself feeling incredibly thankful for a lot these days. Despite the financial and emotional adversity that lockdown has brought, it has also brought a great deal of positivity into my life – the kindness of friends, family and strangers, the shift to working entirely from home, my new found love of succulent plants (seriously, I’m addicted just check out my Instagram!), my tiny garden (where I sit every day it doesn’t rain and indeed even some when it does) and today the fact that my cottage is like a fridge on the hottest of days.

I got up at 6:30am with the well placed intention of watering the garden before the sun unleashed its scorching rays on my unsuspecting plants, I looked at the hosepipe and then thought: I really fancy cheesecake…

I picked up a couple of very cheap tubs of mascarpone yesterday from Lidl, not entirely sure what they were going to be used for but with the best intentions of something to do with fruit…yes, more well placed intentions.

You can make this with cream cheese instead of mascarpone but I just love the silkiness that the Italian softy cheese brings, full fat though, always full fat. I had some Biscoff biscuits knocking about, half a pat of butter and a pot of double cream that was bought for a pasta dish and a punnet of strawberries picked up from the Reduced Section for just 15p, so I was all set for a fruity cheesecake. Then I spotted the jar of Nutella winking at me seductively.

So this is a pretty experimental cheesecake that turned out to be perfect. If I had a bar of chocolate I would have melted it and drizzled it across the top but alas the pantry was bereft of such delights.

This is really easy to make, needs time to set in the fridge before serving but an hour or two later and you are good to go…

Ingredients:

• 400g Biscoff biscuits
• 100g melted butter
• 500g mascarpone
• 2 tblsp icing sugar
• 300g Nutella
• 300ml double cream
• 1 tsp vanilla paste
• chocolate balls to decorate (or some melted chocolate to drizzle)

Method:

1. Put 300g of the Biscoff biscuits in a processor and bliss to a fine crumb then pour in the melted butter and blitz again to mix.
2. Put almost all of the biscuit mixture in the bottom of a 23cm springform cake tin and press down with the back of a spoon. Reserve a bit to sprinkle on the top later if you like or chuck the lot in.
3. Put the mascarpone, icing sugar and Nutella in a big bowl and beat together until well incorporated. I’m lazy so use an electric beater for ease.
4. In separate bowl beat the double cream and vanilla paste until it is fluffy and full of air but not overly stiff. Fold the double cream into the mascarpone mix and mix until all is the same colour.
5. Put the mascarpone and double cream mix on top of the biscuit base and put in the fridge to chill for a few hours or even overnight.
6. Once ready to serve release it from the tin and then decorate with the crushed biscuits, the remaining whole biscuits and your chocolate balls (or melted chocolate).