What happened to the Rishi Sunak I knew at school?
Makes: Serves 8-10
Takes: 30 minutes, plus cooling
Bakes: 40-50 minutes
For the rhubarb compote
200g rhubarb, chopped into inch-long chunks
50g sugar
½ tbsp cornflour
For the base
200g Hobnobs
60g butter, melted
For the filling
600g cream cheese
200g caster sugar
3 eggs
2 tablespoons custard powder
1 tsp vanilla paste
200g sour cream
For decoration (optional)
2 stalks of rhubarb
100g caster sugar
50g water
First, make the rhubarb compote. Cook the rhubarb and sugar together with a splash of water over a medium heat until the rhubarb collapses and the sugar dissolves. Whizz in a food processor or with an immersion blender until smooth, then return to the pan. Make a slurry with the cornflour and a tablespoon of water, stir together, and add to the rhubarb in the pan. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook for another couple of minutes, scraping the bottom of the pan with a spatula throughout. Set to one side to cool.
Place the hobnobs in a food processor and whizz them until they are finely chopped, or put them in a sealed plastic bag, and bash them with a rolling pin. Add the melted butter and continue whizzing or stirring until combined. Press the crumbs into the bottom of a lined, loose-bottomed 8 inch cake pan, until they sit in a firm, even layer. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 160°C. Beat the cream cheese and sugar together by hand or in a stand mixer until it is smooth and combined. Whisk in the eggs, custard powder and vanilla paste. Fold the sour cream through the mix gently. Pour half of the mixture onto the chilled biscuit base, then spoon half of the rhubarb compote on top. Try to avoid it reaching the very edges of the pan, as it will caramelise if it touches the metal. Pour the remaining mixture on top, and spoon the rest of the rhubarb onto that, swirling it a little with a skewer.
Bake for 45-50 minutes until the edges are coming away from the edge of the pan, but the middle remains wibbly. Leave to cool completely before removing from the cake pan.
If you’d like to decorate the top of the cheesecake with extra rhubarb, cut long, thin ribbons of rhubarb using a vegetable peeler. Place them in a large baking tray. Put the sugar and water in a small pan and quickly bring to the boil. Pour this syrup over the cut rhubarb and leave for a few moments; the residual heat from the syrup will cook the rhubarb. Place each strip across the top of the cheesecake and cut it to length so it is flush with the edge of the cake. Repeat until the top of the cheesecake is covered in the strips of fruit.
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