Hands up, who loves sloe gin? Here at Craft Gin Club, we adore all things sloe: we’ve already made our own sloe gin (good news: it’s quicker and easier than you think), and we’ve been sipping it since it turned September (any excuse!). Feeling autumnal too? Then these are the 10 best sloe gin cocktails we recommend you try immediately…

And that’s not where the sloe gin magic stops, the flavour of these wintry purple berries work wonders in dessert recipes too! We are head over heels for this sloe gin autumnal cheesecake recipe. If you’re craving a bit of comfort as the nights begin to draw in, this easy-to-make cheesecake is the perfect dessert. All that’s left is to make it, hunker down and devour in a cosy setting!

Believe us when we say the sloe gin drizzle is simply divine - the richness of the blackberries combined with the sweet honey and boozy gin makes it lip-smackingly tasty. And you don’t need to be a Bake-Off expert either to follow this recipe, which certainly helps!

Sloe Gin Cheesecake

Ingredients
For the cheesecake:
180 grams crumbled Digestive or ginger biscuits
80 grams soft butter
2 tbsp sugar
300g cream cheese
200g mascarpone
50g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp lemon juice
300ml double cream
Fresh figs, blueberries and blackberries, to decorate

For the sloe gin drizzle:
450g blackberries
2 tablespoons honey or sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon water
2 cinnamon sticks
4 tbsp sloe gin

Method
For the cheesecake:
1. Preheat the oven to 200C.
2. Pulse the biscuits and sugar in a food processor or crush in a ziplock bag with a rolling pin until you have fine crumbs.
3. Melt the butter and combine with the biscuit. Flip the base of an 8-inch springform tin so the ridges curve downwards, then press the mixture firmly into the base. Bake for 10 minutes.
4. Beat together the cream cheese, mascarpone and icing sugar.
5. In a separate bowl, add the double cream, then whip until thick. Fold this into your cheesecake mixture and spoon or pipe the mixture onto your biscuit base. Chill in the fridge for at least 6 hours.

For the sloe gin drizzle:
1. Add all the ingredients together into a saucepan (bar the sloe gin) on a medium-low heat.
2. Cook for 15 minutes, breaking apart the blackberries with the spoon as they cook. Remove the cinnamon sticks and then pass it through a sieve if you’d like a smooth glaze (this is optional) and return to the stove and heat until the mixture thickens.
3. Remove from the heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes, then whisk in the sloe gin.
4. Allow to cool and thicken until it thickly coats the back of a spoon, then pour over your cheesecake.
5. Add fresh figs, blackberries and blueberries to garnish.

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