A cheesy love story

To help you understand the origins of this recipe, I must first tell you a little love story.

The story started out back in 1978, when a young country buck named Rob married his sweetheart Robyn.

Now Rob was a cheesecake-lover and no-one could whip up a cheesecake quite like his dear old mum.

But he was a married man now, so couldn’t very well be popping home to mum for a cheesecake every other day.

Robyn was proficient in the kitchen to say the least, but she didn’t share Rob’s love of cheesecake so it didn’t feature on their marital menu.

It soon became clear that no amount of pudding or pavlova would produce that satisfied smile from Rob, so Robyn decided she needed to up her dessert game.

She did just that. And ever since, Robyn’s Rum and Raisin Cheesecake has been a firm favourite in the recipe repertoire -with a few minor tweaks along the way.

The once dessert-crossed lovers now share a love of Robyn’s cheesecake, as do their children, grandchildren and surrogate children who occasionally pop in to see what’s on the menu (ahem, that’s me).

A big thank you for Robyn for sharing this treasured recipe.

Robyn’s Rum & Raisin Cheesecake

Ingredients

Crust

1 ½ packets granita biscuits

½ teaspoon cinnamon (or according to taste)

125g butter, melted

Filling

½ cup raisins

3 tablespoons dark rum

500g cream cheese

1 egg yolk

2 tablespoons caster sugar (recently Robyn has been using dextrose, in the same quantity)

300ml whipping cream

2 teaspoons gelatine

2 tablespoons hot water

Method

To make the crust, melt the butter and mix with the crushed biscuits and cinnamon. Press into spring form pan and refrigerate while filling is made.

To make the filling, place the raisins and run in a small bowl and put aside to soak.

Combine cream cheese, sugar and egg yolk, beat until creamy.

Sprinkle the gelatine over the water to dissolve and allow to cool slightly before adding to the filling.

Fold rum and raisin mixture in with the cream cheese and gelatine.

Pour into prepared crumb crust and refrigerate, leaving to set overnight.

Adorn with whipped cream, grated chocolate or strawberries.

Enjoy!