I was intent on getting some tender, sweet and dense Bosc pears for a dessert that had been running round and round inside my head and wouldn't leave me alone; a pear and candied ginger cheesecake. The family had been complaining about the dearth of desserts lately. Mutiny was in the air and I honestly had run out of ideas for tarting up vanilla ice cream.

After trawling three markets and two supermarkets and coming up empty, temptation presented itself in the form of canned pears. Ordinaril...

My son and hopefully, protege, Joseph, turned 12 two days ago and he requested his all time favourite dessert, Oreo cheesecake, like he's done every year, since he could speak.

I usually make a single large 23 cm (9 in) cheesecake. It's big, beautiful, and such a temptation, though I don't favour it above all other desserts, that I often will skip at least one  meal when I know cheesecake is coming to dinner ;) Then, I wantonly have three servings of it! For shame, for shame, except, I'm to...