Vanillla and Passion Fruit Cheesecake

It's SUMMER!!
Wow the weather has been amazing the last few weeks. This weekend has been a bit dull though so I thought I'd brighten up with a little summer bake! I have a new found love and it's with passion fruit.. I am obsessed! It all started with a passion fruit martini and then suddenly passion fruit began dominating my dessert selection when eating out. I cannot get enough of it so I thought I had to try a dessert with passion fruit and that's just what happened today. I am staying with family this weekend in a house where cheesecake is always a winner in the dessert stakes and this time I decided to mix it up a bit. Instead of doing a baked cheesecake which I have done in the past I decided to do a no bake cheesecake. I have to say it was absolutely delicious and so easy to make. The creamy sweet cheesecake with the bite of the passion fruit is in my opinion my yummiest bake I've made this summer! I hope you guys get a chance to try it and like it as much as I do!

Ingredients:

100g Butter

350g Digestive Biscuits

250g Mascarpone Cheese

80g Icing Sugar

2 tsp Vanilla Extract

400ml Creme Fraiche

300ml Double Cream

5 Passion Fruit

Caster Sugar (amount determined by fruit of Passion Fruit)

Prepare:

Grease and line a 9" Springform Cake Tin with parchment baking paper.

Method:

Begin by breaking up your digestive biscuits. You can do this by putting all your biscuits in a ziplock or freezer bag and bashing with a rolling pin (as you can see below). Alternatively you can break them into a food processor and blitz them until they are a sandy consistency.  

Place your butter into a microwaveable bowl and melt in the microwave. This should take about 1-1.5 minutes depending on the wattage of your microwave. When melted combine the butter with the biscuit and mix until you get a wet sand consistency to the biscuit. Then transfer biscuit mix into your cake tin and press firmly down into the base to create an even layer. Leave to set in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

While your base is setting you can prepare the filling. Using a hand held whisk or electric mixer beat your mascarpone cheese and icing sugar until soft then stir in your creme fraiche and vanilla extract until well combined. If you have a free standing mixer you can use this with the paddle attachment on a low speed.

In a separate bowl whisk your double cream until you get soft falling peaks. Be careful not to over mix!! Fold this cream into your cheese and creme fraiche mix. This mix is now ready to spread over your biscuit base. Spread evenly and place in the fridge to set for at least an hour.

You can now begin your coulis. Cut your passion fruits and scrape out the juice (pips included) into a cup or mug. Place this juice into a small saucepan and measure roughly the same amount of caster sugar into the mug. I used a white mug today and filled half the mug with the passion fruit juice so it was pretty easy to see how much caster sugar I needed. Place the sugar into the saucepan with the juice and bring to the boil, stirring often. Once it has come to the boil bring down to simmer and leave for 3-4 minutes. Then turn off the hob and leave to cool. Once the coulis has cooled you can spread it over the cheesecake. I made this a couple of house in advance so I put the coulis over the cheesecake while still in the tin and placed it back in the fridge. If you're stuck for time though the coulis is fine poured over the cheesecake right before serving.

I would love to hear from you if you try this recipe. Take my word for it (and my family's) it was delicious. If you have any questions you can find me on facebook, twitter and instagram. I hope you are all having a lovely summer so far. If you have any requests for summer bakes don't hesitate to contact me and just ask!

Happy Baking,

O x