Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C.

Peel, core and cut the apples into quarters. Grease the bottom and sides of a 20cm round baking dish with butter. Cover the bottom of the dish with the apple pieces.

Beat the softened butter with the sugar until fluffy. Add the vanilla essence, salt and beaten eggs. Mix well. Add the soft cheese and mix well to combine. Finally stir in the semolina, raisins and cinnamon.

Pour the mixture over the apples, then place the baking dish in the oven. Bake for 30-40 minutes, keeping an eye on it to ensure the top and sides don't burn. If the cake starts to go brown on the top too early in the cooking process, reduce the oven temperature slightly.

Set the cheesecake aside to cool before serving.

Serving
Dust the cheesecake with icing sugar and serve with a dollop of cream.

Tvorog
Combine the milk with the yoghurt in a lidded container, such as an ice cream container or yoghurt maker. Stand in a very warm place until the mixture resembles yoghurt. A yoghurt maker is ideal for this part of the process.

The temperature and length of time to form the yoghurt stage will effect the taste. Too long and it can become bitter.

Reserve around half a cup of the yoghurt mix and keep in the fridge to start your next batch of tvorog.

Tip the remainder of the mix into a saucepan and place on the stove at a low temperature. Allow the mix to come to a gentle bubble, do not stir.

Leave the saucepan on the element until the mixture separates into curds, resembling the texture of cottage cheese, and the yellow watery whey. Turn off the heat and leave to cool.

Line a colander with 3 layers of muslin. Place the colander into a larger bowl or in the sink. Pour the mixture from the saucepan into the muslin and allow the whey to drain out.

When most of the liquid has drained out, draw the ends of the muslin together at the top and secure with a rubber band or knot to form a bag. Hang the muslin bag over a tap to drain thoroughly. The tvorog should be very dry - much drier than cottage cheese.

Remove the tvorog from the muslin and store in a container in the fridge.

Makes around 500g of tvorog.