Kumara cheesecake recipe

Last year on a trip to NZ's Kumara capital (Kaipara district). I was thrilled to discover something new - Kumara cheesecake. Once I returned home I was determined to create my own version of the dish. Whilst mine differs from the one I ate, I was very happy with the taste and texture of mine. And it couldn't be easier to make. The topping has a fudgy texture which contrasts nicely with the cheesecake filling.

My recipe makes a large cheesecake, you could half the recipe if you have a smaller pan. I used a 10" diameter Fat daddios springform pan

For the base

1 packet of Superwine biscuits crushed

1 tbsp sugar

150g melted butter

Mix and press in to base of pan

For the Cheesecake filling

500g kumara peeled and cut in to small pieces

500g Philadelphia Cream Cheese at room temp

3 Tbsp condensed milk

Boil kumara until soft. Allow to cool. Place in food processor and blend until smooth add cream cheese and condensed milk. Pulse to combine. Pour on top of biscuit base.

For the topping 

2 cups brown sugar

125g butter

Good handful of macadamia nuts

Warm the sugar & butter gently together in a pan on stove top until sugar dissolves. Allow to cool slightly stir in nuts and pour over top of cheesecake filling.

Refrigerate 4 hours or until set.

Mini Passionfruit Cheesecakes

Recently the lovely Jenny who works at Kiwicakes made mini passionfruit cheesecakes, which were a huge hit at her party. I'll admit I think these are so much prettier than 1 large cheesecake. And her super easy way of making them has inspired me to make them this weekend.

Using any plain biscuit crush a 250g pack in the food processor with 150g melted butter. This wonderful cheesecake pan has loose bottoms making it super easy to get the finished chilled cheesecakes out.

Press your crushed biscuit down in to the pan

Top with cheesecake mix

For the topping use one box of lemon jelly and one jar of passionfruit pulp. Adjust the water amount for the jelly, to allow for the passionfruit pulp. (e.g remove 300ml of water to allow for 300ml of passionfruit pulp)

Voila! the finished cheesecakes so simple, yet they make you look like a dessert chef superstar.

Cheesecake carrot cake from my blogging friend Alice

Every now and then I get overly excited when I discover a new recipe that's really different. I was on such a high after I'd baked this recipe for Cheesecake Carrot Cake. I shared it on our facebook page and received lots of comments from Kiwicakers keen to give it a try themselves. I've made both cheesecake and carrot cake separately before of course, but never the two together in one pan. I did share just a little of this cake with others, to great acclaim. There were superlative exclamations of its yumminess from my taste testers! 

The recipe comes from my blogging friend Alice (you may remember her from last year's Chelsea New Zealand's hottest home baker). You can check out her blog here. She also recently released this book. I own a copy and recommend getting it for yourself.

Alice has generously allowed me to share the recipe here with you. Whilst mine differed slightly in appearance (that's to say Alice's is much prettier), I was very happy with mine. I've copied the recipe by hand into the family recipe book and it's now a firm favourite for many years to come.

Ingredients

Cheesecake
• 375 g cream cheese, softened to room temp
• ½ cup caster sugar
• 1 tbsp plain flour
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• ¼ c cream
Carrot Cake
• ¾ cup brown sugar, firmly packed
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 ½ tsp ground ginger
• 1 ½ cups coarsely grated carrot (about 2 medium carrots)
• 1/3 cup sultanas
• 1/3 cup chopped nuts (e.g. pecans or walnuts)
• Cream Cheese Frosting
• 125 g cream cheese, softened to room temp
• 50 g butter, softened to room temp
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 cups icing sugar, sifted
• pumpkin seeds or chopped nuts, to decorate

How to

1. Preheat oven to 170 °C. Grease the sides and line the bottom of a 23 cm spring form tin.
2. To make the Cheesecake beat the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Scrape down the sides then beat in the flour and vanilla. Add the eggs one at time, beating until just combined. Stir in the cream (try not to add any more air to the mixture) and set aside.
3. To make the Carrot Cake, beat the sugar and oil with an electric mixer for 2-3 minutes or until sugar is starting to dissolve. Beat in eggs one at a time.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices and add to the sugar/oil mixture. Stir until just combined then stir in the carrots, sultanas and nuts.
5. Spoon two-thirds of the Carrot Cake batter into the base of the prepared tin and spread out to reach the sides. Level the batter as much as you can.
6. Spoon all of the Cheesecake mixture over the Carrot Cake batter. Use a large spoon to “dot” the top of the Cheesecake mixture with the remaining Carrot Cake batter. DO NOT swirl it in, instead, let the heavier Carrot Cake batter sink into the Cheesecake.
7. Gently tap the tin onto the bench a few times to level the mixture out.
8. Bake on the middle shelf of your oven for 45-55 minutes until cake is set but still a little wobbly in the middle.
9. Cool on the bench in the tin until cake reaches room temperature then refrigerate until cold.
10. To make the cream cheese icing, beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Beat in the vanilla and lemon juice then scrape down the sides. Add the icing sugar all in one go and beat until light and fluffy (about 3-4 minutes with a stand mixer or 5-7 minutes with a hand held electric mixer).
11. Unmould cake, place on a platter or cake plate and spread icing over top of chilled cake. Sprinkle with pumpkin seeds or chopped nuts and chill for an hour.
12. Store cake in the fridge but remove about half an hour prior to serving.

Fruit powders in cheesecake

After chatting with one of my lovely customers (that's you Kim!) and she was telling me about how she had used the passionfruit fruit powder in cheescake and was going to make them in the way I had for the Christmas bauble cheesecakes from 2009 (click here for that post - photo below). I couldn't resist trying it for myself and the taste, how can I describe it?, "to die for" comes to mind. What was also interesting for me, was my daughter was prepared to try it because it was just yellow (no black seeds) and she loved it, but would never previously try passionfruit, because of the "black bits"

But I had to take it one step further and try the raspberry powder as well, it rated right up there too, but passionfruit was definitely my favourite. However my dear hubby & daughter preferred the berry. It was so easy to split a cheescake mix 50/50 and do some passionfruit and some raspberry, it would be easy to keep everyone happy. I think they would work well in the cupcake size cheescake, like those I did with strawberry hearts from 2010 (click here for that post) And of course in the fruit powders - there's a wide range to choose from, with other berries, mango & plum too

I also think with a bowl of freshly cut strawberries, a squirt of cheescecake from a piping bag, using a decorative nozzle, makes a nice addition, following a heavy meal, when a large piece of cheesecake might be too much for lighter eaters. (I won't include myself in that one, I always have room for cheesecake!)

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