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Banoffee Cheesecake

by . Featured in KITCHEN
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Introduction

I love the way a handful of mournfully overripe, positively unprepossessing bananas give rise to this vulgarly triumphant cha-cha-cha of a cheesecake. Well, it is a cheesecake, but the texture is not the usual smooth cream; rather, it is aerated and moussy and as light as its perfume is, contrariwise, compellingly heady.

You can make the toffee sauce while the cheesecake is cooking or cooling. Either way, you want the sauce completely cold, but it shouldn't go into the fridge; it will come to no harm sitting out, covered, overnight, or for a couple of days in a cool place. The cheesecake is a different matter: it needs the overnight stay in the fridge and longer won't hurt it.

When you make this, do ensure that the cream cheese is at room temperature before you start whisking or processing it. If it starts off cold, it will never — whisk it or blitz it as wildly as you will — cook to the requisite lusciousness.

For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.

I love the way a handful of mournfully overripe, positively unprepossessing bananas give rise to this vulgarly triumphant cha-cha-cha of a cheesecake. Well, it is a cheesecake, but the texture is not the usual smooth cream; rather, it is aerated and moussy and as light as its perfume is, contrariwise, compellingly heady.

You can make the toffee sauce while the cheesecake is cooking or cooling. Either way, you want the sauce completely cold, but it shouldn't go into the fridge; it will come to no harm sitting out, covered, overnight, or for a couple of days in a cool place. The cheesecake is a different matter: it needs the overnight stay in the fridge and longer won't hurt it.

When you make this, do ensure that the cream cheese is at room temperature before you start whisking or processing it. If it starts off cold, it will never — whisk it or blitz it as wildly as you will — cook to the requisite lusciousness.

For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.

Image of Nigella's Banoffee Cheesecake
Photo by Lis Parsons

Ingredients

Yields: 10 slices

Metric Cups

For the base

  • 250 grams digestive biscuits
  • 75 grams soft unsalted butter

For the cheesecake

  • 4 medium - 600 grams (total weight with skin on) - overripe bananas
  • 60 millilitres fresh lemon juice
  • 700 grams cream cheese (at room temperature)
  • 6 large eggs
  • 150 grams soft light brown sugar

For the toffee sauce

  • 100 grams soft unsalted butter
  • 125 millilitres golden syrup
  • 75 grams soft light brown sugar

For the base

  • 18 sheets graham crackers
  • 6 tablespoons soft unsalted butter

For the cheesecake

  • 4 medium - mashed measure of 1¾ cups - overripe bananas
  • ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
  • 3 x 8-ounce packets cream cheese (at room temperature)
  • 6 large eggs
  • ¾ cup (packed) plus 1 tablespoon soft light brown sugar

For the toffee sauce

  • 7 tablespoons soft unsalted butter
  • ½ cup golden syrup or light corn syrup
  • ⅓ cup soft light brown sugar

Method

You will need 1 x 23cm / 9-inch springform cake tin and 1 x roasting tin, for water-bath.

  1. Preheat the oven to 170°C/150°C fan/gas mark 3/325°F and put a full kettle on to boil. Wrap the outside (underneath and sides), of your springform tin with a double layer of ovenproof clingfilm, then cover that thoroughly with a double layer of foil. The idea is to give a good waterproof casing to protect the cheesecake as it bakes in its water-bath later.
  2. Process the digestive biscuits with the butter until you have a sandy rubble that is beginning to clump, and press into the bottom of the prepared tin. Sit this in the fridge and clean out the processor, making sure you have no crumbage left whatsoever.
  3. Mash the bananas well with a fork, add the lemon juice, and set aside for a moment.
  4. Process the cream cheese until smooth, then add the eggs and sugar. Last of all, add the mashed banana and lemon juice, processing until you have a smooth mixture.
  5. Take out of the fridge the well-wrapped, biscuit-lined springform tin, sit it in the centre of a roasting tin and pour the cheesecake filling into your springform.
  6. Now put the roasting tin and springform into the oven and pour the recently boiled water into the roasting tin so that it comes halfway up the springform. Cook for 1 hour and 10 minutes, checking after 1 hour. The very centre of the cheesecake should still have a hint of a wobble, but should seem set on top.
  7. Remove from the oven and, still wearing your oven gloves, take the springform out of the water-bath and place on a cooling rack. Gently and carefully peel away the outside layers of clingfilm and foil, and let the cheesecake continue cooling on the rack.
  8. Put the cheesecake into the fridge but don't cover it till it's fully chilled, then leave overnight — and remember to remove it from the fridge about ½ hour before you want to eat it.
  9. To make the sauce, melt the butter with the golden syrup and sugar in a saucepan over a gentle heat until everything comes to a bubble, then let it bubble, keeping an eye on it, for 1-2 minutes. It will be a foamy, amber mixture like liquid honeycomb. Then let it cool slightly before pouring into a small jug and leaving to cool further; it will thicken as it cools.
  10. To help unmould the cheesecake, work a spatula around the top edge, before unspringing from the tin, then put it on a serving plate, preferably one with a lip. Whisk the toffee sauce in the jug and drizzle some over the cheesecake, leaving the rest for people to add greedily as they eat.

You will need 1 x 23cm / 9-inch springform cake tin and 1 x roasting tin, for water-bath.

  1. Preheat the oven to 170°C/150°C fan/gas mark 3/325°F and put a full kettle on to boil. Wrap the outside (underneath and sides), of your springform tin with a double layer of ovenproof clingfilm, then cover that thoroughly with a double layer of foil. The idea is to give a good waterproof casing to protect the cheesecake as it bakes in its water-bath later.
  2. Process the graham crackers with the butter until you have a sandy rubble that is beginning to clump, and press into the bottom of the prepared tin. Sit this in the fridge and clean out the processor, making sure you have no crumbage left whatsoever.
  3. Mash the bananas well with a fork, add the lemon juice, and set aside for a moment.
  4. Process the cream cheese until smooth, then add the eggs and sugar. Last of all, add the mashed banana and lemon juice, processing until you have a smooth mixture.
  5. Take out of the fridge the well-wrapped, biscuit-lined springform tin, sit it in the centre of a roasting tin and pour the cheesecake filling into your springform.
  6. Now put the roasting tin and springform into the oven and pour the recently boiled water into the roasting tin so that it comes halfway up the springform. Cook for 1 hour and 10 minutes, checking after 1 hour. The very centre of the cheesecake should still have a hint of a wobble, but should seem set on top.
  7. Remove from the oven and, still wearing your oven gloves, take the springform out of the water-bath and place on a cooling rack. Gently and carefully peel away the outside layers of clingfilm and foil, and let the cheesecake continue cooling on the rack.
  8. Put the cheesecake into the fridge but don't cover it till it's fully chilled, then leave overnight — and remember to remove it from the fridge about ½ hour before you want to eat it.
  9. To make the sauce, melt the butter with the golden syrup or light corn syrup and sugar in a saucepan over a gentle heat until everything comes to a bubble, then let it bubble, keeping an eye on it, for 1-2 minutes. It will be a foamy, amber mixture like liquid honeycomb. Then let it cool slightly before pouring into a small jug and leaving to cool further; it will thicken as it cools.
  10. To help unmould the cheesecake, work a spatula around the top edge, before unspringing from the tin, then put it on a serving plate, preferably one with a lip. Whisk the toffee sauce in the jug and drizzle some over the cheesecake, leaving the rest for people to add greedily as they eat.

Additional Information

MAKE AHEAD NOTE:
Make the cheesecake up to 2 days ahead and cool as directed. Cover when completely cold, with a plate or clingfilm, making sure that the covering does not touch the surface of the cheesecake. Unmould and serve as directed in the recipe. The sauce can be made 2-3 days ahead and kept in an airtight container in a cool place. It can also be covered and kept in the fridge for up to 1 month.

MAKE AHEAD NOTE:
Make the cheesecake up to 2 days ahead and cool as directed. Cover when completely cold, with a plate or clingfilm, making sure that the covering does not touch the surface of the cheesecake. Unmould and serve as directed in the recipe. The sauce can be made 2-3 days ahead and kept in an airtight container in a cool place. It can also be covered and kept in the fridge for up to 1 month.

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What 1 Other has said

  • Love this recipe!!! I have been using Nigella's recipe for about 12 years. I found it in her wonderful cook book I got at the library After living in Ireland for a number of years with aunties and cousins. It is always a very big hit wherever I take it. Her sticky toffee pudding is a big hit as well!!!

    Posted by Beablasta on 29th December 2020
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