Salted caramel popcorn cheesecake

It’s no secret among those who know me that I love popcorn. I even made-up a song about it once. During university, I spent a little too much time going to the cinema, which gave me an excuse to eat unreasonable quantities of popcorn. I just find it utterly addictive. Luckily, thanks to it becoming rather a trendy restaurant ‘snack’ in recent years, rather than finding its presence in my life has dwindled, I’ve actually never eaten more of the stuff. This dessert pays homage to it, the popcorn providing a crunchy vehicle for an evil salted butterscotch sauce. It’s basically toffee popcorn in an easy, no-bake cheesecake, and, once made, it doesn’t last more than a day in my fridge. It’s also best eaten the day you make it, as the popcorn loses its crunch when kept in the fridge for days. If you want to make it ahead, omit the popcorn from the base, reserve half of the butterscotch sauce for the topping, and put freshly popped popcorn on the top of the cake on the day, then smother it in the sauce – Rosie Birkett

POPCORN

1 tablespoon flavourless oil (groundnut or sunflower)

large pinch of sea salt

40 g (1½ oz/¼ cup) popcorn maize kernels

CHEESE CAKE

200 g (7 oz) digestive biscuits

small handful of popcorn (see above)

pinch of sea salt

100 g (3½ oz) butter, melted, plus extra for greasing

500 g (1 lb 2 oz/2 cups) mascarpone or soft cheese

100 g (3½ oz/generous ⅓ cup) quark

80 g (3 oz) icing (confectioners’) sugar, plus extra to taste

100 ml (3½ fl oz) double (heavy) cream

SALTED BUTTERSCOTCH SAUCE

30 g (1 oz) unsalted butter, diced

1 teaspoon milk

160 ml (5¼ fl oz) double (heavy) cream

145 g (5 oz/¾ cup) light muscovado sugar

generous pinch of sea salt

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT

20 cm (8 in) springform cake tin