Guest chef: Lyndey Milan

Have a go at this novel, delicious upside-down version of a staple dessert.

Lyndey Milan’s upside down salted caramel cheesecake with macadamia praline.

Australians love a good cheesecake — and they like to mix things up.

I created this dish when I was filming the TV series Lyndey Milan's Taste of Australia in Port Macquarie, NSW. On the road you don't have an oven so instead of a cookie base I have substituted a more-ish praline made with macadamia nuts sourced locally from the Lorne Valley. This dessert can be made ahead and refrigerated (without the praline). For best results, remove it from the fridge at least one hour before serving.

Guest chef Lyndey Milan. Picture: Troy Snook

Upside down salted caramel cheesecake with macadamia praline

125ml pouring cream

185g cream cheese, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

Salted caramel sauce

60g butter

110g muscovado or dark

brown sugar

125ml pouring cream

1 teaspoon sea salt flakes

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

Macadamia pretzel praline

40g butter

2 tablespoons maple syrup

55g icing sugar

70g macadamia nuts, toasted

and roughly chopped

1/2  cup roughly crushed pretzels

For the salted caramel sauce, melt butter in a medium saucepan, add sugar and cook for 5 minutes or until sugar dissolves and starts to turn golden, stirring from time to time. Add cream and salt and bring to the boil. Boil gently for 10 minutes, whisking occasionally, until thickened. Remove from heat and pour into a small bowl; add the vanilla and set aside to cool.

For the macadamia pretzel praline, place a medium saucepan over low heat, add butter and melt,

stirring from time to time to distribute the milk solids; continue to cook until it foams and turns nut brown. Stir in maple syrup and icing sugar, bring to the boil and cook for 2 minutes. Add macadamia nuts and crushed pretzels and stir quickly until coated. Spoon onto a baking tray lined with baking paper and set aside to cool. When cool, break into small chunks.

Using an electric mixer, beat cream until soft peaks form. In a larger bowl, using the same beaters, whip cream cheese, vanilla and 1 tablespoon of cooled salted caramel sauce until fluffy. Gently fold through cream. Spoon into serving glasses, top with a spoonful of salted caramel sauce and scatter over a few chunks of macadamia pretzel praline. Serve immediately. Serves 4

Recipe and image from Cooked: Food For Friends (Hardie Grant, $24.99).

Photograph: Stuart Scott