Elderflower and lime cheesecakes with greengage compote

It was our second wedding anniversary on Tuesday and we went out for a lovely meal to celebrate.  For pudding, Lu ordered a deconstructed lime and elderflower cheesecake.  I wasn't such a fan of the 'deconstruction' (blobs of cheesecake mixture on a plate with a shortbread biscuit) but the combination of elderflower and lime was delicious!  It inspired me to make this for dessert this evening for dinner with our friend Kirsty.  I think it would be really lovely with gooseberries but unfortunately couldn't find any at my local greengrocer's.  Greengages are a good replacement though and compliment the elderflower beautifully.  This would also be nice with ginger biscuits in the base, but I just added some ground ginger to malted milk biscuits.

Ingredients

For the biscuit base
12 malted milk biscuits

1 tsp ground ginger
50g butter
2 tbsp elderflower cordial

1 tbsp honey

For the cheesecake mixture

80ml elderflower cordial
Juice and grated zest of 1 lime
300g cream cheese

3 tbsp extra thick double cream
125g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

For the greengage compote
12 small greengages, stoned and quartered
2 tbsp caster sugar

2 tbsp elderflower cordial

1 sachet powdered gelatine

Method

1. To make the biscuit base, place the butter, elderflower cordial and honey in a small saucepan over a low heat and stir until melted.
2. Blitz the biscuits in a blender to fine crumbs, then mix with the melted butter.
3. Divide the mixture between three individual trifle glasses and press down with the back of a spoon.  Place in the fridge to chill.
4. Place the elderflower cordial in a small heatproof bowl and microwave until hot and starting to bubble.
5. Sprinkle the gelatine over the top and leave for a minute or so, then stir vigorously to dissolve.
6. Add the lime juice and whisk.
7. In a large bowl whisk together the cream cheese, cream, icing sugar and vanilla extract.  
8. Add the elderflower gelatine mixture to the cheese mixture, and whisk it all together.
9. Stir in the lime zest.
10. Divide the mixture between the glasses and place in the fridge for a couple of hours to set, or overnight.
11. To make the compote, place the quartered greengages in a small pan with the sugar and elderflower, bring to the boil and then turn to the lowest heat and leave to simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. 
12. Strain the juices into a small bowl and reserve the fruit.
13. Sprinkle the gelatine over the top of the strained juices and leave for a minute or so, then stir vigorously to dissolve.
14. Add the reserved fruit to the juice mixture and stir to combine.
15. Leave to cool, then chill the mixture in the fridge.
16. When ready to serve, spoon the greengage compote over the cheesecakes.