Pina Colada cheesecake

Today I want to share a dessert that brings to mind holidays, the hum of waves and relaxing time. We'll prepare a piña colada cheesecake: a combination of fluffy coconut and sweet pineapple sauce. An easy to make dessert that will delight your friends.

 

Crispy, lightly buttery base works perfectly with fluffy, pleasantly coconut cheesecake, while thick pineapple sauce brings freshness and fruit notes. Delicious, simple to make and light-as-a-cloud cheesecake that will make any summer evening even better.

You'll find the list of ingredients, method and approximate nutritional value below.

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List of ingredients (18 x 28 cm baking tin)

Base

• 250 g biscuits, eg. Digestives
• 50 g desiccated coconut
• 100 g butter

Cheesecake

• 1 can coconut milk (400 ml), divided into coconut cream and coconut water
• 18 g powdered gelatine
• 250 g whipping cream (36%)
• 100 g icing sugar
• 750 g cream cheese
• 50 ml Malibu

Decoration

• 50 ml water
• 15 g cornstarch
•  400 g canned pineapple
• 30 g sugar

Method

1. The day before making the cheesecake put a can of full fat coconut milk (400 ml) into a fridge to cool it down. After this time it will be easy to separate coconut water and coconut cream that should gather at the top of the can. Set cream aside for now and heat up coconut water until it starts simmering gently. Pour it into a small jug and add 18 g powdered gelatine. Stir through the contents of the jug shortly, until gelatine crystals dissolve, and set it aside to cool.
2. Meanwhile, prepare cheesecake base. Put 250 g biscuits into a large string bag. Close the bag almost completely, leaving a 1 cm gap to let air escape. Crush biscuits with a rolling pin.
3. Add 50 g desiccated coconut and 100 g cool melted butter to crushed biscuits. Squeeze the bag a few times to distribute coconut and butter. Transfer the contents of the bag into a cake tin, 18 x 28 cm, lined with baking paper. Spread crushed biscuits in an even layer across the whole surface and press them down with a glass with a flat bottom. Set the cake tin aside to work on coconut layer.
4. Pour 250 g cold whipping cream (36%) into a medium bowl and add 100 g icing sugar to it. Beat the contents of the bowl until cream visibly thickens  up and doubles in volume, but is not stiff yet. It's best to start at low mixer speed and increase it gradually as cream grows in volume. Once you've got the right texture, put cream back into a fridge.
5. Put 750 g cream cheese, separated coconut cream and 50 g Malibu into a separate, large bowl. Try to ensure that the ingredients are at room temperature. Stir through the contents of the bowl shortly with an electric mixer, only until uniform and smooth mixture forms. It should not take too long; two or three minutes will be enough. Once you've combined the ingredients, scrape down the sides of the bowl with a silicone spatula.
6. Add tempered gelatine to cheesecake mixture: add 1 tbsp of cheese mixture to cool gelatine, stir through the solution until uniform, and add it to cheese mixture. Do it slowly, in a thin trickle, while mixing the contents of the bowl at medium speed. This way you will distribute coconut solution in the mixture without a problem and avoid unpleasant lumps. Once you've added all of gelatine continue mixing for 30 seconds, and set the mixer aside. We won't need it anymore.
7. Add whipped cream to cheese mixture and stir it in carefully with a silicone spatula. Try to do it gently not to remove too much air, but quite efficiently, because cold cream may speed up the process of your cheesecake setting. That is especially true if your cheese and coconut cream were cold.
8. Pour cheese mixture onto the biscuit base, spread it in an even layer across the whole surface and even out the top. Put the cheesecake into a fridge until the top firms up.
9. Meanwhile, prepare pineapple sauce. Pour 50 ml cold water into a glass and add 15 g cornstarch. Stir through the contents of the glass until cornstarch dissolves in liquid, and set it aside.
10. Put contents of one tin of pineapple chunks (400 g) into a medium pot. Use pineapple in juice rather than syrup, otherwise it may be too sweet. Blend contents of the pot until smooth, add 30 g white sugar and stir it in shortly until dissolved.
11. Place the pot over medium heat and bring sauce to a light simmer. It is worth stirring sauce from time to time to ensure sugar and pineapple don't burn. Otherwise it may become unpleasantly bitter, and you will need to start afresh. Once sauce starts simmering, bring the heat under the pot down to low and add dissolved cornstarch, stirring. Once you distribute slurry in sauce bring heat back up to medium and cook sauce for 3-4 minutes, stirring, until it thickens up. Sauce will thicken up quite quickly, but continue cooking it to get rid of the raw cornstarch flavour. Take pot off heat after 4 minutes and put it aside to cool it down. About an hour should be enough.
12. Once sauce is neutral to touch, pour it on top of setting cheesecake and spread it gently with a silicone spatula across the whole surface. Sauce may be quite thick at this stage, but it should be easy to spread. Return cheesecake into a fridge for a few hours, or best overnight, until it sets completely and sauce thickens up.
13. Enjoy!

Approximate nutritional value

100 g

• 265 kcal
• Carbs: 18 g
• Fat: 20 g
• Protein: 3 g
• Fibre: 1 g

1 slice (recipe makes 16 slices)

• 384 kcal
• Carbs: 27 g
• Fat: 29 g
• Protein: 4 g
• Fibre: 1 g