Chocolate hobnobs, mascarpone and mint — the perfect cheesecake for summer

The sun is out, the evenings are long — it's time to get a little tropical. Wow your friends, family, mortal enemies, whoever, with this majestic mojito cheesecake with white chocolate. The key ingredient here is 'fresh and cooling spearmint', says Melanie Johnson, who notes that it's 'more subtle and sweet than its spicier cousin peppermint'.

A versatile ingredient is mint. As well as this delicious cheesecake, you can also use the herb to create spring-green fritters, by grating 200g of courgettes and squeezing out any excess liquid. 'Add a handful of finely chopped pointed cabbage, 100g garden peas and a handful of chopped mint. Sprinkle over 85g plain flour, add two beaten eggs and seasoning. Mix everything together. Heat olive oil in a large frying pan and drop in dollops of the mixture. Brown on both sides and serve.'

But now, for the main event.

Recipe: Mojito cheesecake with white chocolate:

Ingredients

• 125g caster sugar
• 4 limes, zest and juice, plus more to decorate
• 100ml water
• 75ml white rum
• A large handful fresh spearmint
• 200g Hobnob biscuits
• 50g desiccated coconut
• 125g butter, melted
• 400g cream cheese
• 400g mascarpone
• 400g double cream
• 100g white chocolate, melted
• Decorate with fresh mint, slices of lime and white chocolate

Method

Put the caster sugar, limes, water, rum and fresh mint in a saucepan and bring to a simmer, pressing the mint down into the liquid. Turn off and leave to infuse for 30 minutes and then strain, reserving the syrup.

Use a rolling pin to crush the biscuits in a freezer bag until they resemble breadcrumbs. Tip them into a bowl, add the desiccated coconut and the melted butter. Mix to combine and then transfer the mixture to a 20cm (8in) loose-bottomed baking tin, pressing the crumbs into an even layer over the base and up the sides as much as you can and then chill.

In a blender, process until smooth the cream cheese, mascarpone and double cream. Pour in the reserved syrup, process again, add the melted white chocolate and process once more. Pour onto the chilled cake base and leave to set overnight in the fridge.

Remove from the cake tin and place on a serving plate with extra mint leaves and lime slices to decorate. You could also add edible flowers, if they’re available, and white-chocolate curls

Credit: Getty

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