Challenge Book #39 - Banana and Ginger Cheesecake

I have been writing this blog for quite a while now and in all that time you may have noticed (but probably not) that I have never posted a cheesecake recipe (well not technically and that I can remember).

A first assumption may be that I do not like cheesecakes. Oh but I do, I do. I like them a bit too much. That's the problem. Fortunately, I made this particular cheesecake for a friend's birthday. Which means there were plenty of other people to do the heavy lifting with all those calories. I am nothing if not strategic.

And really there is just no good time to eat cheesecake. If I eat it in the morning, I don't feel like lunch. If I eat it in the afternoon I don't feel like dinner. And it's way too heavy for dessert after a full dinner.



This cheesecake just about overcomes all those hurdles. It is actually quite light, much less dense than the usual baked cheesecake. And it is almost delicious enough to wipe away all thought of calories.

Oh and it doesn't get much easier to make. No cooking whatsoever. A wee bit of chopping, crushing, beating and assembling. Voila, yummy cheesecake.




And here we are at Challenge Book #39 in the KJ wants a Kitchen Aid Challenge - Homecooked. This is a collection of favourite recipes contributed by listerners of ABC radio. I was really excited when I bought this book. There's nothing better than tried and true family recipes. This cheesecake came from Mrs Wilma Winter in Lawton, Queensland.

However, nothing I have previously tried from this book has really worked out all that well. I almost think that there must be some kind of hoodoo at work. But hopefully, this cheesecake is a sign of better homecooked things ahead.

Banana and Ginger Cheesecake
(adapted from Home Cooked)

250gm plain sweet biscuits
125gm butter, melted
3 tbspn crystallised ginger, finely chopped
2 tspn powdered ginger
2 tspn powdered gelatine
2 tbspn boiling water
375 gm cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/3 cup lemon juice
2 egg yolks
1 cup mashed banana
1 cup cream, whipped
extra whipped cream and bananas

Crush the biscuits and mix in the butter and ginger. Press firmly into the base of a 23cm spring form tin. Chill.

Beat the cream cheese, condensed milk, lemon juice and egg yolks. Dissolve the gelatine in the hot water. Fold into the cream cheese mixture along with the mashed banana and cream. Spoon over the crumb base and refrigerate for several hours until set.

Decorate with more whipped cream and sliced bananas to serve.