Cheesecake lovers generally sit in one of two camps; New York cream cheese lovers who want a dense, rich filling vs. Italian ricotta lovers who prefer a light, fluffy centre. Now I don’t like to discriminate so I combine both cheeses for a perfectly balanced, velvety smooth filling that is not too heavy. This gluten free baked cheesecake is taken to new heights with my zesty homemade passionfruit syrup. The acidity from the tropical passionfruit syrup perfectly cuts through every smooth and creamy mouthful.
I always bake my gluten free cheesecake base from scratch because it is so easy to prepare and delivers a perfect thin crust every time. If you would like to add more texture replace half the almond meal with shredded coconut for extra crunch.
Some cheesecake baking tips before you get started –
- Ensure your cream cheese has softened to room temperature to avoid lumps in your filling.
- Bake your cheesecake in a lined springform tin so that you can easily release the tin lock once you your cheesecake is baked. This is not a cake you want to flip over!
- Don’t over bake your cake or it will crack. The cheesecake should have golden puffy sides and a slight wobble in the centre. Baked cheesecakes firm as they cool.
- Refrigerate your cheesecake until it is chilled to help it set properly before serving.
- To slice, dip your knife in hot water and wipe it clean with a paper towel to avoid a sticky mess.
Don’t be shy with that insanely delicious passionfruit syrup. Works a treat over ice cream too!
- Base
- 80g butter, cubed
- 110g or ½ cup caster sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 130g or 1 cup plain gluten free flour
- 100g or 1 cup almond meal
- Cheesecake
- 1½ tbs cornflour
- 1½ tbs water
- 500g ricotta
- 350g softened cream cheese
- 220g or 1 cup caster sugar
- 4 eggs
- 1 tsp lemon rind
- Juice of 1 lemon
- Passionfruit Sauce
- 50g fresh passionfruit pulp (approx. 5 passionfruit)
- ½ cup or 120g water
- ½ cup or 110g caster sugar
- Squeeze of lemon juice
- Preheat the oven to 180c. Line a greased 23cm springform cake tin with baking paper.
- To make the base, blitz all ingredients in a food processor until crumbs form. Firmly press mixture into the base of cake tin and bake for 15 min. Remove tin and reduce oven temperature to 150C.
- To make the filling, combine the cornflour and water to form a paste. Blitz the cream cheese in a food processor for 5 sec until smooth. Add all remaining ingredients and blitz to form a smooth paste.
- Pour the cream cheese mixture over the base and bake in 150C oven for 1 hr or until set. Remove from oven and cool.
- To make the passionfruit syrup, add all ingredients to a saucepan and simmer for 10 min until syrupy. Remove from heat, add lemon juice and cool.
- Pour cooled passionfruit syrup over chilled cheesecake.
- Preheat the oven to 180c. Line a greased 23cm springform cake tin with baking paper.
- To make the base combine all ingredients in bowl and mix 30 sec/speed 5 until crumbs form . Firmly press mixture into the base of cake tin and bake for 15 min. Remove tin and reduce oven temperature to 150C.
- To make the filling, combine the cornflour and water to form a paste. Mix the cream cheese for 5 sec/speed 5 until smooth. Add all remaining ingredients and mix 15 sec/speed 5.
- Pour the cream cheese mixture over the base and bake in 150C oven for 1 hr or until set. Remove from oven and cool.
- To make the passionfruit syrup, add all ingredients to bowl and cook Varoma/speed 2/ 8 min. Cool.
- Pour cooled passionfruit syrup over chilled cheesecake.
This is just about the most decadent cheesecake I ever did see! That passionfruit glaze is like a waterfall of edible bliss.
Thanks Hungry Mum. Hope you catch that waterfall!
This is an amazing recipe! I didn’t have any passionfruit so I used frozen raspberries to make the coulis and then topped with fresh raspberries. It tasted and looked divine! Thankyou
Thanks Lisa glad you enjoyed.Fruit is pretty much interchangeable, sounds like the berries worked a treat!
Perfect cake recipe to try this Christmas.
Guys, Thanks For sharing this Great Recipe. My Family Loved it. I am definitely sharing this recipe and this website with my friend. Hope they also love it. Thank you again for sharing such a great recipe.
I tried this cheesecake today,my mother in law made it (along with your bread recipe) for lunch. It was divine!I make a pretty good cheesecake myself (I run a gluten-free bakery) but this was lovely! Going to try it.