Baked Coconut Cheesecake
This coconut delight baked cheesecake is quite a show stopper dessert
Ingredients:
For the biscuit base:
- 180g digestive biscuits
- 60g desiccated coconut
- 50g granulated sugar
- 60g butter, melted
For the filling:
- 700g cream cheese
- 200g granulated sugar
- 15g plain flour
- 250ml Ma’s Kitchen Organic Coconut Milk or Ma's Kitchen Reduced Fat Coconut Milk
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 4 eggs
For the topping:
- 150g fresh raspberries
- 1 level tablespoon of icing sugar plus extra for dusting
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 175 deg C (Fan 155 deg C)
- Line a 20 cm springform tin with baking parchment on the bottom and sides. Use a little butter on the tin to help the paper to stay put.
- Start by toasting the desiccated coconut. Put it in a clean dry pan over a medium heat. You must move the coconut around and watch that it does not burn ! It’s ready when it turns golden and the kitchen is filled with an amazing coconut fragrance. Empty immediately into a large bowl and set aside to cool.
- Next reduce the digestive biscuits to crumbs in a food processor or by putting them in a plastic bag and giving them a bash with a rolling pin. Add them to the toasted coconut in the bowl. Then add the sugar and melted butter and stir it all together until the crumbs and coconut have absorbed the butter.
- Put this biscuit base into the prepared tin. A neat trick is to use the flat bottom of a glass tumbler to press the crumbs down firmly. You can press them against the sides too for an interesting look to the final cheesecake. Put in the centre of the oven for 10 minutes and then set aside to cool while you make the filling. It’s quite delicate at this stage so handle the tin carefully.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer beat the sugar and flour into the cream cheese. When they are combined, beat in the coconut milk and the vanilla extract. Beat in the eggs next - one at a time if doing it by hand. Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl to incorporate all the cream cheese.
- Pour the filling into the prepared tin and bake for approximately 55 minutes. Start checking after about 45 minutes. The edges should have a bit of colour and the very centre should have a little wobble. Don’t worry about cracks on the top, you will be decorating it anyway.
- Remove from the oven and leave in the tin for about 10 to 15 minutes then carefully undo the springform sides to help the cheesecake cool. When it’s cold enough, cover and put in the fridge for a few hours.
Topping:
- Raspberries are a favourite for topping as they are quite sharp as well as sweet. Crush about 8 berries in a a level tablespoon of icing sugar and spread that all over the top of the cold cheesecake then place the rest of the raspberries on top. Dust with more icing sugar.
- You can put any fruit you like on top of the cheesecake. All sorts of berries go well with the creamy coconut but chocolate shavings or more toasted coconut (or both !) would work very well too.