Banana and Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake with raspberry coulis

A delicious baked cheesecake that looks impressive too. A great dessert if you are making a big meal as it can be made a day or two before.

1. 1

   Preheat the oven to 150ºC.
   Melt the butter in a small saucepan or in a microwave. Grease a 20cm round cake tin (loose bottomed, and springform if possible but not essential) using a little of the melted butter, line the base with baking paper and brush the paper with a little melted butter also.
   Blitz the biscuits to crumbs in a food processor, add the sugar and melted butter and mix together, then tip into the prepared tin and press down well to cover the base and about three-quarters of the way up the sides. Put the tin on a baking sheet.
   Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water, or in a microwave.
   Put the cream cheese, 110 g caster sugar, banana, sour cream, and flour in a food processor and whizz together until smooth. With the machine on, add the eggs, one at a time, mixing in between.
   Pour about half of the filling into the base, and about half of the remaining filling into a jug, leaving about ¼ in the food processor bowl. Put the bowl back into the machine, add the melted chocolate, and whizz up together until smooth and uniform in colour.
   Drizzle the chocolate filling on top of the banana filling in the tin, and gently swirl using a skewer or cocktail stick. Then pour over the remaining banana filling in a swirl pattern, then use the skewer or cocktail stick again to swirl, or make a feather pattern on top.
   Bake in the centre of the oven for 45 minutes. Remove from the oven when centre is still just slightly wobbly. Switch off the oven. Run a palette knife all the way around the edge, which will make it easier to remove when ready to serve, then put the cheesecake back in the cooling oven for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely before covering with foil and chilling in the fridge overnight. (If not making the day before, give it at least 4 hours in the fridge).
   For the coulis, whizz together the raspberries and icing sugar with a hand-held stick blender, or in a food processor. Taste and if you think it needs it, add a little lemon or lime juice, or a little more icing sugar, depending on your taste. If you want a smooth coulis, strain through a sieve, pushing it through with the back of a spoon. Pour into a jug to serve with slices of the cheesecake.
   Serve the cheesecake as it is, or decorate with a few raspberries and / or a dusting of icing sugar and / or cocoa powder, if you like (or leave it so that the feathering / swirled pattern can be seen, depending on how pleased you are with it!).