Ingredients

• 100g/3½oz sultanas
• 100ml/3½fl oz lemon vodka
• 225g/8oz charcoal crackers (available from large supermarkets and cheese suppliers)
• 150g/5oz butter
• melted
• 30g/2oz icing sugar
• 750g/1½lb ricotta cheese
• 400g/13oz cream cheese
• 6 free-range eggs
• 150g/5oz sugar
• 1 vanilla pod
• seeds scraped out
• 30g/1½oz poppy seeds
• whipped cream
• mixed with a shot of vodka

Directions

• Soak the sultanas in the lemon vodka overnight.
• For the base
• crush the crackers into a bowl. Add the melted butter and icing sugar and stir to combine.
• Press the biscuit mixture into the base of a 23cm/9in spring-form cake tin.
• Preheat the oven to 180C/355F/Gas mark 4.
• For the topping
• place the ricotta
• the cream cheese
• eggs
• sugar and vanilla seeds into a food processor and blend until combined and smooth.
• Transfer the cheese mixture to a clean bowl. Drain the sultanas from the vodka and add the sultanas to the cheese and mix well.
• Spoon the cheese mixture onto the biscuit base and sprinkle over the poppy seeds to completely cover the top.
• Transfer to the oven to bake for one hour. The surface should still be a little wobbly in the very centre of the cheesecake when it is done. It will firm up as it cools.
• Once it is cooled
• serve slices of the cheesecake onto plates with a dollop of vodka whipped cream.