Heavenly lemon cheesecake on a ginger crust

This lemon cheesecake was the favourite pudding at a charity buffet for 40 that Mary was a guest at – it went like lightening. The other good news in that once you’ve collected the ingredients together, it takes 10 minutes to make.

Makes: 20cm (8in) cheesecakeServes: 8Special equipment: 20cm (8in) round loose-bottomed cake tin, greased and base-lined with baking parchment

Ingredients

100g (3 ½ oz) ginger biscuits, crushed50g (1 ¾ oz) butter, melted2 x 250g tubs mascarpone325g jar luxury lemon curdJuice of 1 small lemonFresh raspberries and blueberries, to decorateIcing sugar, to dust

Method

• Mix the biscuits with the butter in a bowl, then press into the base of the tin (but not up the sides)

• Put the mascarpone, lemon curd, and lemon juice in a bowl and beat with a spatula until smooth

• Spoon on to the biscuit base and level the top. Chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours and up to 24 hours to firm up

• To serve, remove the cheesecake form the tin, peel off the baking parchment, and arrange on a platter. Decorate with the fruit and dust with icing sugar.

Great for a crowd: You can make up to three cheesecakes in one go (but take care not to overbeat the mixture at step 2). If you’re making more cheesecakes than that, prepare them in separate batches.

Prepare ahead: The cheesecake can be made up to the end of step 3 up to 1 day ahead. Not suitable for freezing.

Cook Up a Feast by Mary Berry and Lucy Young is published by DK, £14.99