Ingredients

Method

• 250 g digestive biscuits, finely ground
• 415 g white sugar
• 120 g butter, melted
• 1 t ground cinnamon (optional)
• 1.35 kg Philadelphia cream cheese
• 6 free-range eggs, separated
• 1 vanilla pod, split and seeds scraped out
• 1 T vanilla extract
• pinch kosher salt
• 1 3/4 cups sour cream
For the topping
• 1 3/4 cups sour cream
• 50 g sugar

Method

Ingredients

Preheat the oven to 190°C.

To make the crust, mix the biscuit crumbs, 65 g sugar, melted butter and cinnamon, if using, until well blended.

Press the mixture into two 24-cm springform cake tin, making a thin, even, layer and bake for 7 minutes. Allow to cool, then chill for an hour.

Reduce the oven’s temperature to 180°C.

To make the filling, beat the cream cheese with 175 g sugar. Add the egg yolks, vanilla seeds, vanilla extract, salt and sour cream and beat thoroughly, scraping the bowl.

Beat the egg whites with the remaining sugar. Fold the egg whites into the cheese mixture and very gently pour into the prepared cake tin.

Wrap the bottom of the tin in tinfoil, place in a water bath and bake for 1 hour, then turn off the heat and leave in the oven for another hour.

Remove, cool on a rack, then chill for 12 hours.

To make the topping, preheat the oven to 100°C. Mix the sour cream and sugar, spread over the chilled cheesecake and bake for 20 minutes. Finally, chill for 24 hours before serving.

Cook's note: this makes a really big cheesecake. You can easily halve the ingredients, and bake it in a 24cm tin.

TASTE'S take

This recipe has been called' the best cheesecake in the world' and was created by the lauded hotelier, Bea Tollman, the founder and president of the Red Carnation Hotel Collection.

This cheese cake recipe has been perfected by her over the years and is now served at many of the Collection’s luxury boutique hotels in the United Kingdom, Switzerland and South Africa. It also features in her book, A Life in Food.