Gill Meller’s oat plum breakfast cheesecake
Makes: 20 mins
Serves: 8-10
Prep time: 20 mins, plus chilling and setting 
Recipe adapted from Gather (Quadrille, £25) by Gill MellerRecipe photograph by Laura Edwards
Gill Meller’s oat plum breakfast cheesecake
Recipe by Gill Meller
Makes: 20 mins
Serves: 8-10
Prep time: 20 mins, plus chilling and setting 
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Nutritional information (per serving)
Calories
422Kcal
Fat
24gr
Saturates
14gr
Carbs
43gr
Sugars
32gr
Fibre
4gr
Protein
6gr
Salt
0.4gr
Gill Meller
Food writer and chef Gill Meller lives near Lyme Regis in Dorset with his wife and two daughters. He has worked with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall at River Cottage HQ for more than 10 years. His book, Gather (Quadrille, £25), was published in 2016.
See more of Gill Meller’s recipes
Gill Meller
Food writer and chef Gill Meller lives near Lyme Regis in Dorset with his wife and two daughters. He has worked with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall at River Cottage HQ for more than 10 years. His book, Gather (Quadrille, £25), was published in 2016.
See more of Gill Meller’s recipes
Ingredients
For the base
- 150g fine oatcakes
- 75g runny honey
- 25g sunflower seeds
- 125g dates, pitted
- 75g prunes
For the filling
- 150ml carton double cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 40g icing sugar, sifted
- 250g full-fat cream cheese, we used Philadelphia
- 75g thick Greek yogurt
For the topping
- 15g unsalted butter
- 2 tsp clear honey
- 10-12 small plums, halved and stoned (or 6 large, sliced)
- a sprinkle of poppy seeds (optional)
Step by step
Get ahead
Make the cheesecake up to 1 day ahead; chill in the tin. Cook the plums a few hours ahead; keep at room temperature. Remove the tin, top with plums before serving.
- Cover the base of a 20cm springform tin with a sheet of baking paper, then assemble the tin, leaving some paper to overhang around the sides, externally.
- To make the base, blitz the oatcakes to crumbs in a food processor, then add the rest of the ingredients and whiz until fully combined. Press the mixture into the bottom of the springform tin – it should come up to about 1cm high – and smooth it over with the back of a spoon. Place in the fridge to set while you make the filling.
- In a large bowl, using an electric hand whisk or in a free-standing mixer, beat the filling ingredients until the mixture is thick and holding its shape, making sure there are no unsightly lumps of icing sugar. Then, remove the base from the fridge and pour the mixture over. Put the tin back into the fridge for the cake to set, at least 2-3 hours.
- Heat the butter and honey in a small frying pan over a medium heat until bubbling. Add the plums, cut-side down, and leave to fry in the sweetened butter for about 5 minutes (or 8-10 minutes if using larger plums), turning once, until just softened but retaining their shape. A syrup should have formed in the base of the frying pan – turn them back to cut-side down, and leave to cool to room temperature.
- To assemble, remove the cheesecake from the fridge and use a round bladed knife to loosen it from the sides, unmould and release the cheesecake from the tin and lift onto a serving plate. Gently spoon the plums and their syrup over the top. Finish with a sprinkling of poppy seeds, if you like, before serving.
