Buttered Apple and Mascarpone Cheese Cake

Ingredients Crust

• 1½ cups ground almonds
• 3 tbsp icing sugar
• 3 tbsp flour

Ingredients Buttered Apples

• 3 granny smith apples, peeled, cored and cut into 2cm thick slices
• 3 tbsp castor sugar
• 2 grinds black pepper
• 1 tsp ground cloves
• pinch of salt
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter

Ingredients Cheesecake Filling

• 400 gm mascarpone
• 140 gms vanilla sugar (castor sugar that has had a vanilla pod stored in it)
• 4 eggs separated
• 250 gms sour cream
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Method Crust

Brush the inside of a 9 inch spring form tin with butter and dust with a little flour.

In a food processor, pulverize the almonds, flour and sugar.

Press into the bottom of the tin and set to one side.

Method Buttered Apples

Toss the apple in a bowl with the sugar, spice and salt.

Melt butter in a saucepan on a high heat and allow to turn golden brown. As soon as the butter emits a nutty aroma, (you have to watch closely), add the apples carefully and sauté until soft.

This will take approximately 5 minutes. Set to one side.

Method Cheesecake

Beat the mascarpone with the sugar, add the yolks, sour cream and vanilla extract and beat until smooth.

Whip the egg whites to soft peaks and fold into the mascarpone mixture. Spoon enough of the mixture into the ring tin to fill it just below halfway. Top with the buttered apples.

Cover apples with remaining cheesecake mixture to approximately 1 cm below the top of the ring tin.

Place the tin containing the filling on a large sheet of tin foil and pull up the sides to the height of the tin.

Place the cake in 1 cm of water. This will allow the cake to bake gently. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes at 150 degrees celsius.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 20 to 25 minutes.