Ube Cheesecake

I baked an ube cheesecake yesterday. A whole ube cheesecake. There isn’t a birthday party, office party or any sort of celebration coming up that would need such a cheesecake, but I went ahead and baked it anyways.  You see sometimes I just like to bake because there is something so soul-satisfying about spending the afternoon in the kitchen playing with flour, sugar, butter and eggs. So essentially I just baked a whole ube cheesecake for myself – and it was freakin incredible.

I used a ginger cookie crust and studded it with pieces of candied ginger for extra oomph.  The cheesecake is a gorgeous purple hue from the ube and it has the perfect thick yet yeilding, creamy texture. Each bite fills your mouth with unrelenting waves of ube flavor.  It is supremely creamy, rich, tangy and sweet.

This is a beautiful classic cheesecake with a Filpino twist.  Love ube cupcakes? Well then you will love this ube cheesecake and you can even make a coconut sour cream topping for added deliciousness. This recipe is so simple and can be adapted to any flavors or toppings. Go make yourself a whole cheesecake, you deserve it!

Perfect Cheesecake Recipe

(adapted from Simply Recipes)

Ingredients:

CRUST

2 cups ginger cookies finely ground

2 Tbsp sugar

pinch of salt

3 Tbsp unsalted butter

FILLING

2 pounds cream cheese, room temperature

1 1/3 cup granulated sugar

pinch of salt

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

30 ml ube extract

4 large eggs

2/3 cup heavy whipping cream

2/3 cup sour cream

COCONUT SOUR CREAM TOPPING

2 cups sour cream

¼ cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon coconut extract

Directions:

1. Prepare your spring form pan so that no water leaks into it while cooking. Wrap aluminum foil around the pan, folding foil up the sides of the pan. Use a second square of foil and repeat. Make sure there are no foils and that exterior of pan is completely covered with foil.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
3. Pulse ginger cookies in food processor until finely ground. In a mixing bowl combine cookies, sugar and salt. Next, stir in melted butter and mix.
4. Put ginger cookie crumbs in the bottom of the spring form pan. Press down the crumbs with your fingers creating an even layer across the bottom of the pan.  Place the pan in the oven for 10 minutes or until crust looks fully baked. Remove from oven and let cool while you make the filling. Lower oven temperature to 325 degrees once the crust is baked.
5. Cut the cream cheese into chunks and place it into the bowl of you electric mixer with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed for 4 minutes or until cream cheese is smooth.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the sugar and mix again on medium speed for another minute or until sugar is incorporated. Add the salt and vanilla extract and mix again for another minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the ube extract. Miss again until extract is fully incorporated. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for one minute after each addition. Next, scrape down the bowl and add the sour cream. Mix until incorporated. Add the heavy whipping cream and mix again for another minute. Make sure everything is fully incorporated and there are no cream cheese lumps at the bottom of the bowl.
6. Place the foil wrapped spring form pan into a roasting dish. Pour the cream cheese filling into the pan on top of the ginger cookie crust.
7. Place the pan in the oven and carefully fill the pan with boiling water to create a water bath for the cheesecake. Pour in enough water to reach halfway up the sides of the spring form pan.
8. Cooke at 325 degrees for 1 ½ hours.
9. Turn off the oven and crack open the oven door to let the cheesecake cool slowly for another hour.

10. Cover the top of the cheesecake with foil (do not let foil touch surface of cheesecake) and chill in refrigerator for at least                 4 hours or overnight.

11. Serve and enjoy!

For coconut sour cream topping mix ingredients and chill. Top cheesecake when ready to serve.