Lilikoi cheesecake

This month's challenge for Daring Bakers is Abbey's Infamous cheesecake. I love cheesecakes and for once I did not procrastinate on my baking. I made this cheesecake for my sweetheart's 30th birthday. He loves lilikoi (passion fruit), so I decided to make a lilikoi flavored cheesecake topped with some lilikoi sauce. Instead of using a graham cracker crust, I used a shortbread crust.

We shared the cheesecake with friends at a birthday dinner, and a friend exclaimed, "I want to marry this cheesecake". heehee =P I thought this cheesecake was very delicious, very creamy and not too heavy...but I have to say my heart and taste buds are still with the Mascarpone cheesecake.

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge. Here's the recipe.

Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake
makes one 8" cheesecake
total time:

For the crust:
125g butter
40g sugar
150g flour

1. Preheat the oven to 350.

2. Mix the flour and sugar together. Using fingertips or a pastry blender, work butter in the flour mixture until coarse meals form.

3. Lightly work mixture to form a dough. Press the dough into the bottom of a 8 inch springform pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool completely.

For the cheesecake:
3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)
½ cup of passion fruit puree

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.

2. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla and passion fruit puree and blend until smooth and creamy.

4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.

5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.

Passion Fruit Sauce
from Diana's desserts

1/4 cup water
1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup passion fruit pulp
Juice of 1/4 lemons

1. Boil water and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat for 5 minutes.

2. Add passion fruit and lemon juice and boil for a further 3 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Serve cooled sauce over slices of cheesecake.

Note:

• To prevent cracks, make sure your of your ingredients are room temperature. Cheesecakes tend to crack when you over beat the mixture. Another reason for cracked cheesecakes is when they're overcooked.