We recently visited the Green Snapper Café in Colville, Coromandel, on our babymoon, and had a cosy time sitting by the roaring fire looking out to the deserted road outside, reading the weekend paper and being thankful for living in paradise. We had a good ol’ seafood chowder and toasted sammie. Coffee was great. They had a lots of nice-looking cakes on the bench but then the blackboard special caught my eye – roasted banana cheesecake. Three magical words that go so well together. Their cheesecake with divine; with yoghurt and cream on the side, of course. So it inspired me to make one too. I scoured the net and looked at many recipes. This is my combination. I had never made a cheesecake before, so I took the easy road with the base and just made it from bought biscuits. Next time I’ll try make my own with different flours and ground nuts.

 

This is my May entry for Sweet NZ, this month hosted by Time for a Little Something. Check out the her blog at the end of the month for a round-up of diverse sweet treats.

 

Base:

250g gingernut biscuits

75g melted butter

 

Filling:

3 ripe bananas

500g cream cheese, room temp

250g sour cream, room temp

1 tsp vanilla

¾ cup caster sugar

zest of 1 lemon

3 eggs, room temp

 

Preheat oven to 170C. Cut ends off banana skins and place on foil on a baking sheet for about 10 min each side until the skins go black. Cut skins open to cool down bananas.

Smash up gingernut biscuits in 2 plastic bags with a mallet of some kind or make into breadcrumbs using a food processor. Mix with melted butter. Press into base of 20cm springform pan. Even out with the back of a spoon or bottom of a glass. Refrigerate for at least 10 mins.

Mix cream cheese and sour cream in a large bowl until smooth. Add vanilla and sugar and beat slowly with electric beater. Mix in zest. Beat in eggs one at a time. Once bananas are cool, mash then up a bit then mix them into the cream mixture.

Pour on top of the base and bake for about 45-55 mins until set. (It will still wobble in the middle slightly.) Cool on a wire rack, then put in fridge for a few hours to help set before removing from tin.

Serve with cream, yoghut, ice cream, whatever your fancy.