The hedgerows round Spruisty Farm are heaving with blackberries so I found this great recipe to put them to good use!

150g digestive biscuits, or Nice biscuits

• 50g butter, melted

• 450g curd cheese,

• 2 eggs, beaten

• 1 lemon, zest only

• 175g caster sugar,

• 300g blackberries, stalks removed

   

For the topping

• 100g plain flour,

• 75g butter,

• 50g caster sugar

   

Crush the biscuits. Mix with the melted butter and tip into a 20-22cm loose-bottomed tart tin or shallow cake tin. Press the warm, wet crumbs down with your hand to form a base, then put in the fridge. 

Mix the curd cheese, beaten eggs, lemon zest and half the sugar with a hand-held electric mixer. It should be thick and creamy. Put the tart tin on a baking sheet. Pour the filling into the crust and bake in an oven preheated to 180°C/Gas 4 for forty to forty-five minutes or until almost set. 

Put the prepared fruit in a pan with the remaining sugar, a tablespoon of water, and simmer until the blackcurrants just start to burst. Set aside to cool. For the topping, whizz the flour, butter and sugar in a food processor until they resemble crumbs. 

Remove the cheesecake from the oven and let it cool slightly. Lift the fruit from its juice with a draining spoon and spoon over the top of the cheesecake. Pour over a tablespoon of the juice, then chill the rest. 

Scatter the crumble mixture over the fruit and return the cheesecake to the oven for twenty to twenty-five minutes or until the crumble is starting to colour. Remove from the oven and leave in a cool place. Serve the cheesecake with the juices from the fruits.