I don’t really make fancy desserts very often so, if I’m looking for a bit of inspiration, I usually turn to James Martin. These individual ginger and chocolate cheesecakes (served chilled – a great make-ahead choice) are adapted from one of his recipes in his excellent ‘Desserts’ book. Very yummy and pretty easy to make!

You will need…

You can easily make this for as many people as you like by scaling up the ingredients as below. I made mine in 5cm metal rings and removed them carefully just before serving. It’s equally attractive in pretty glasses – just as long as you can see all the layers.

• 2 gingernut biscuits per serving (4 for 2 people, 8 for 4, 12 for 6 etc.)
• 10g unsalted butter per serving, melted
• 100g full-fat cream cheese per serving (use Arla lacto-free if you can’t usually eat dairy-based desserts)
• 1 tbsp grated dark chocolate per serving
• 1/2 tsp cocoa powder such as Green & Black’s per serving
• 2 pieces of ginger in syrup per serving
• A pack of Dr Oetker chocolate stars for decoration

To make…

• Whizz up the ginger biscuits in a food processor and then add the melted butter. Add an equal amount to the base of each metal ring or glass dish. Pat it down evenly so that the base will set firmly – this is important to be able to turn them out without breaking them. Add a little more melted butter if the crumb mixture looks too dry.
• Add the cream cheese to a large mixing bowl. Chop half of the ginger pieces finely and stir into the cream cheese along with 2 tsp of the syrup per serving i.e. 8 tsp if you’re making this for 4 people. Add a little more cream cheese if the mixture looks too runny – it needs to set firmly.
• Top the biscuit base with the cream cheese mixture and smooth the surface with the back of a spoon.
• Dust evenly with the cocoa powder and grated chocolate.
• Decorate with thin slices of ginger and the chocolate stars.
• Chill in the fridge for at least an hour until you want to serve it.
• Carefully remove the cheesecakes from the rings before serving.

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