Passionfruit Cheesecake

I have loved passionfruit from an early age. This is not exactly shocking information, as I have met few who aren't impressed by its intense acidic, almost perfumed flavour. My own love affair began in my grandmother's garden, for there she grew a sizeable passionfruit vine, a luxury that seems too incredible to fathom. Each year she would carefully wait until the fruit had wrinkled enough to show it was at its peak flavour, then she would scoop out the inside, adding ample sugar to further enhance the flavour, and then can it in small glass jars. These we would wrap carefully and pack into our suitcases to come back across the Pacific Ocean, so that when we were looking for a taste of heaven we could add a spoonful to a scoop of simple vanilla ice cream and thus transform it into something worthy of royalty.

I still get excited whenever I see anything with passionfruit flavour, and I have noticed that Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood always give thumbs up to any dessert given to them that contains this marvellous fruit. The only real drawback is its expense - you can't exactly grow it in Scotland, and it is quite pricey if you need the dozen or so fruit required for any recipe.

Sometimes, you just have to treat yourself. My eye had always been caught by a Nigella Lawson recipe in How to be a Domestic Goddess for Passionfruit Cheesecake. I can't say I'm a huge fan of cheesecakes that veer away from the traditional New York variety, but this one seemed to be a guaranteed win: Nigella, cheesecake, passionfruit - three strong points in its favour. So finally I added 10 passionfruit to my online shopping order and waited for them to arrive so I could try it out.

I was all ready except for one thing: the springform tin. I had accidentally left mine at work, so I decided to improvise with a tart tin with a removable base. On went the fake Pam to ensure success in the cheesecake's removal:

And into a bag went some digestives. No graham crackers here, peeps.

After I'd taken out my aggression, they looked like this.

Then in went butter. The recipe didn't call for any sugar, but I usually use some and in retrospect think I should have thrown a tablespoon or so in. Live and learn.

The crumbled mix looked like so.

And into the tin it went, pressed down with the bottom of the glass.

Now, I HAD ordered 10 passionfruits, but my husband saw the bag and thought "oooh, I should have some of my 5 a day!" and stole a couple. He claims I should have told him they were for a recipe. I think he should have actually put away the shopping when it came and should have known that a bag of 10 passionfruit, a quantity I have never come close to purchasing before, would naturally be for a special recipe. Thankfully I only needed 7 for the filling itself, so his hide was saved.

So, so pretty. So, so tasty.

And into the big processor they went. I would have used the smaller bowl, but I can't find its blade right now in my chaotic kitchen of doom.

A quick whirrr and they were looking more juicy and less pulpy.

So I whipped up some cream cheese.

Added some sugar.

Mixed some more.

Then added 3 yolks (one at a time, stressing myself with the separating of eggs)

They made it a bit golden.

Then 3 whole eggs went in too.

And were stirred in at this point as it was getting a bit too bubbly for my liking.

The fruit was strained in with some lime juice.

I realise now I could have just added some bottled passionfruit juice here, as it's not too hard to find here and would have been cheaper and easier (and just as flavourful, I think). Next time.

Now just dive in and drink it all...

NO! Wait, I was kidding! GET OUT OF THERE!

Instead it went into the tart case...and there was waaaaay too much, as it is way shallower than a springform tin, so I made some ramekins and a teacup as well. Once they were in the oven I added boiling water to the pan to make a "bain marie". Who was this Marie, and why did she like baths of boiling water?

After a while, the small ones came out. They wiggled like jelly in the middle at the time of removal - this ensures they don't overcook. And oh, yeah, I kind of messed one up when I took it out. Still tasted fine.

Then their mother came out to cool.

They went in the fridge while my husband went out to buy me more passionfruit and thus prevent our divorce. Once he got back, I carefully removed the cheesecake from the tin, ensuring a perfect finish on the cake.

Err...when in doubt, just throw lots of fresh fruit on top.

No, those aren't frog spawn, they are little pieces of heaven, kids.

AND IT'S MINE!!!!!!!!!!!! ALLL MINE!!!!

I'll add the recipe later, when I can move again.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Well, today was a big day, people.  My baking got me invited to a party.  This cooking is opening doors, my friends.  Party doors with pumpkins on them.

Because it was a pumpkin tasting party!

I was under strict instructions only to make something if I wanted to.

Well, of course I wanted to.  I mean, who needs another excuse to cook pumpkin in October?  Not me, certainly.

I opted for pumpkin cheesecake, a dessert I now prefer over pumpkin pie.

So I got the essentials.  Out of frame is a huge bag of candied ginger that my mom sent with the request that it feature in a blog post.  Don't worry, you'll see it later on.

First I made the base - ginger nuts/snaps were pulverised in the food processor.

Then in went some pecans and crystallized ginger.  Sugar was supposed to go in too, oops.

Just a few pulses so there would still be lumps of it...

And then in went some melted butter.

I lightly pressed it into the tin.  My recipe then said to bake it, but I ignored the recipe and just set the assembled base aside.

On to the cheesecake filling.  I whipped up some cream cheese and added brown sugar, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and cinnamon.

I never worry about a few specks of brown sugar showing up, as they'll just melt into nice sugary syrup within.

And in went some eggs too

Over the years, it has been tricky getting consistent supplies of this baby.  When I first moved here pureed pumpkins myself, which is a big, watery hassle (but admittedly turned out to be very tasty).  Then I found suppliers of the canned variety in out of the way places.  Then Libby's had a bad couple years of harvests and they actually limited the exports of this stuff, making it truly prized amongst us expats.

I'm happy to report it is a plentiful year for pumpkin, with Libby's now gracing multiple supermarket shelves and jack-o-lantern pumpkins a'plenty on the shelves too.

In goes the orange stuff

And into the tin it goes.

I stuck it in a water bath just to make sure it stayed smooth.  Just as well, as I forgot to turn the fan off on my oven so I cooked it at a higher heat than I intended.  And thankfully I have a habit of checking stuff when it is 3/4 of the way through what the directions indicate is the correct length of baking time.

So it came out looking like this.  It went into the fridge for a day and a half.

Then I added some whipped cream with a bit of vanilla, icing sugar, and ginger with a couple pieces of crystallized ginger.

And then I carried down the stairs in a vintage orange tupperware container and dropped it while stupidly trying to put gloves on, managing to smear whipped cream all over my coat in the process. A little voice inside my head had been trying to warn me it was a dumb idea, but who really listens to that voice, anyway?  I don't have a photo of the dented mess (thankfully at least it got on me and not the floor) as I didn't have anything with me that can take photos (my phone is an 8 year old Nokia) but I did still offer it to others and they ate it.  

WAIT, someone else took a photo with a fancy camera after its cosmetic repairs:

Try this recipe, you know you want to.

Pumpkin Cheesecake (adapted from TLC Cooking)

CRUST
1‑1/4	cups gingersnap (ginger nuts in the UK) cookie crumbs
1/3	cup pecans, very finely chopped
	handful of crystallized ginger
1/4	cup butter, melted
FILLING
	24 oz cream cheese
1	cup packed light brown sugar
1	teaspoon cinnamon
1/2	teaspoon ground ginger
1/4	teaspoon ground nutmeg 1/4 tsp ground cloves
2	eggs
2	egg yolks
1	cup solid-pack pumpkin

PREPARATION:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. For crust, combine cookie crumbs, pecans, sugar and butter in medium bowl; mix well. Press crumb mixture evenly on bottom of ungreased 9-inch springform pan. 
2. Meanwhile for filling, beat cream cheese in bowl with electric mixer at medium speed until fluffy. Add brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg; beat until well blended. Beat in eggs and egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in pumpkin.
3. Pour mixture into crust.  Wrap outside of tin in foil to prevent leaks, then place in bain marie (a big tray filled with boiling water - it's easiest to put tray in oven, add tin, then pour boiling water around it)  Bake around 1 hour (start checking after 40 mins) or until edges are set but center is still moist, it should jiggle like jello in the middle. Turn off oven; let cheesecake stand in oven with door ajar 30 minutes. Transfer to wire rack. To prevent cracking, loosen edges of cake from rim of pan with thin metal spatula; cool completely.
4. Cover; refrigerate at least 24 hours or up to 48 hours before serving
5. Whip some double cream and when it forms soft peaks add a spoonful of icing sugar, a sprinkling of ground ginger and a dash of vanilla and stir into cream.  Pipe onto cheesecake just prior to serving.