plate 38: argentina

I don't think I've told you how fond I am of caramel. I. LOVE. IT. From chomping on Colombines as a kid - you know, those chewy lollies with the bright pink and bright blue wrappers? - and Gaytimes to creme caramel gelato from Pompei's in Bondi, I totally heart the stuff. The love grew even deeper when I travelled to South America a few years ago and discovered dulce de leche - which means "sweet milk" in Spanish. It's basically just cooked sweetened condensed milk that becomes a rich, sticky, golden and downright delectable spread like caramel paste.

In South America dulce de leche is an ice-cream flavour, used on toast, eaten solo off the spoon, spread between alfajores (shortbread-style biscuits), etc etc etc etc. You can buy it in jars, which travel buddies and I did in abundance as gifts for family and friends. At the airport, Customs informed us we couldn't bring in products from Argentina that had been made with cows milk, but somehow we managed to smuggle them in.

My love of caramel - and my sweet tooth in general - most certainly comes from D Rose - my mum - which is why making this paste of deliciousness was so perfect this week: it was D Rose's birthday.

I knew I couldn't just dish up a dessert of dulce de leche on its own with six spoons. I had to do something more special than that. I contemplated making it a filling for melting moments, but then came across something even more amazing: dulce de leche cheesecake. Cheesecake is D Rose's absolute favourite dessert, so this would be a winner. There are tonnes of recipes for dulce de leche cheesecake out there, but whoever came up with it in the first place, you are nothing short of a genius.

Some people make dulce de leche by boiling a whole can - not pouring the contents of it, but simply putting the can itself - in a pot on the stove for a couple of hours. The risk here is that the whole thing can explode. I'm not a fan of a messy kitchen, so the fear of having sticky caramel bits splattered all over the walls was not something I was excited about. I found a recipe on Not Quite Nigella and she, too, was nervous about cooking this way, so came up with a safer method, which works really well. Just pour the sweetened condensed milk into a pie dish. Cover the dish tightly with foil. Sit it on a baking tray and pour a little water on the tray to make a bain-marie, then cook it in the oven at 220C for about an hour or so.

I was amazed at how easy it was to make. In just 60 minutes it turns a beautiful caramel colour, then all you do is let it cool and whisk until it's smooth. Incredible. SO easy. A few dips in and licks of the finger confirmed this was the goods.

That done, it was cheesecake time. For anyone out there who hasn't made a cheesecake before, like I hadn't, this recipe is a pretty easy one to start with. You just make a basic cheesecake then swirl the dulce de leche through it and bake as normal. Cheesecakes are prone to cracking, but one trick is to turn the oven off once it's baked, then leave the cake in there with the door slightly ajar for a while. I did this and was bummed when my cheesecake formed two little cracks on top - they looked like two little eyebrows, stretched into angry position. Oh well - as long as it tasted good.

And my god, did it. D Rose squealed in delight when I presented her birthday cake and she realised it was cheesecake. I must say, I was mighty pleased with my efforts and there was silence as we all dug in, trying to savour every little bit, not wanting it to end. The only thing I'd change to the recipe is the crushed vanilla wafers as the base - they were a touch soft - you'll get a better, crunchier result from regular sweet biscuits.

I of course want you to try many things on this blog, but this is up there as one the best, so please please please try it. And when you have a little dulce de leche leftover, pop it in a little container, wrap a ribbon around it and give it to your favourite person in the whole world. x