24 Mar White Chocolate and Passion Fruit Cheesecake

Last week a neighbour gifted me a bag of beautiful ripe passion fruit. I set about making a big batch of passion fruit curd (recipe coming soon!) but had plenty fruit leftover. I’ve been meaning to reshoot a raspberry cheesecake recipe from many years ago and decided to remake it with a passionfruit topping instead! I was so pleased with the flavour and thought it looked really striking too.

Despite technically being a “no-bake” cheesecake, I find that baking the crust for a few minutes really amps up the toasty, biscuity flavour of the cheesecake. This combined with a creamy, almost mousse-like white chocolate filling and tart passion fruit topping really makes for (in my opinion) the perfect cheesecake! If you prefer berries for the topping, fresh raspberries work fantastically, and look especially pretty with a light dusting of icing sugar.

The cheesecake can be made 3-4 days in advance – I find the flavour actually improves after a day.

Fancy a boozy cheesecake? Try this Gin and Grapefruit Cheesecake!

Ingredients:

(serves 8-10)
For the base:
300g white choc Choc-kits
80g butter, melted

For the filling:
375g full cream cream cheese, softened
100g castor sugar
2,5ml finely grated lemon rind (½ tsp)
5ml vanilla essence ( 1 tsp)
10ml gelatine (2 tsp)
30ml cold water (2 tbsp)
200g white chocolate
200ml cream

For the passionfruit coulis:
1 cup of fresh passion fruit pulp
15ml castor sugar (1 tbsp)
10ml cornflour (2 tsp)
10ml water ( 2 tsp)

Directions:

• Grease and line a 22cm springform tin with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
• Process the Choc-kits in a food processor until you have fine crumbs. Slowly add the (preferably still warm) melted butter and process very well until you have an almost paste-like texture. Press into the base and sides of the prepared tin as neatly as possible, then bake for 5 minutes. If the mixture has lost its shape a bit after baking, you can use a glass to press it neatly into the base and sides again after it has cooled a little. Cool completely then refrigerate while you make the filling.
• Beat the cream cheese, castor sugar, lemon rind  and vanilla essence together until smooth.
• Melt the white chocolate in a heatproof bowl (either over a double boiler, or in the microwave at 20 second intervals), stirring until smooth. Set aside to cool.
• Sprinkle the gelatine over the cold water and leave to bloom for 5 minutes. Heat gently in the microwave for 5 seconds to melt the gelatine. Stir and repeat until it is fully melted, but do not allow it to boil.
• Whip the cream to soft peak stage.
• Add the white chocolate and gelatine to the cream cheese mixture and mix well. Quickly fold in the whipped cream then pour the mixture into the prepared base.
• Refrigerate for 3 hours until set.
• To make the passionfruit coulis, add the pulp and castor sugar to a small saucepan and heat over low heat. Combine the cornflour and water, then add to the warm passionfruit mixture, stirring constantly. Increase the heat to medium, stirring until the mixture just comes to the boil and thickens. Remove from the heat and cool completely. I like to sieve the coulis and then add back just 1 or 2 tbsp of the seeds.
• Pour the cooled coulis over the set cheesecake and refrigerate for 1 hour.