When you think of the ultimate crowd pleasing dessert, Cheesecake often comes to mind. But If you want to please AND wow your family and party guests, this easy Raspberry Passion Fruit Cheesecake with Speculoos Crust recipe is for you!
Why we love this recipe
Cheesecakes were never one of my go-to dessert growing up. You don't typically find cheesecakes in traditional French bakeries, and the only recipe I was accustomed to was my grandma's Eastern-European style baked cheesecake.
But this was until I spent a year in the US in 2008 and was brought to "The Cheesecake Factory". I'll stop you right there - their cheesecakes were way too heavy and sweet for my taste and this recipe will be nothing like theirs. But that year abroad introduced me to the light, creamy, flavourful cheesecakes!
And yes - baked cheesecake can be just as light, creamy and fluffy as no-bake cheesecakes! Just like my Passion Fruit Cheesecake, Baked Ricotta Cheesecake and my Biscoff Cheesecake, this Baked Raspberry Cheesecake with Passion Fruit is light, packed with flavour and super decadent!
Even though Cheesecakes aren't something I often make, I decided to work on a recipe after finding Speculoos biscuits in Melbourne. If you are wondering what the hell is a Speculoos, it is also known as "Biscoff" in many parts of the world.
It is a traditional Belgian / Dutch spiced cookie that I grew up with. When you order a coffee at a cafe in Brussels, it will most likely be served with a Speculoos cookie.
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It is also commonly used to make cheesecake crusts, quite similarly to a Graham Cracker. But the spices used in Speculoos - mainly cinnamon - really bring an intense and interesting flavour that you cannot find anywhere else! And it just works AMAZINGLY in cheesecakes!
I highly recommend trying to find the Speculoos Cookies for this recipe (and also because they are simply delicious) or you can get them here. Instead, you can also use Gingerbread Cookies or Graham Crackers. Not the same, though!
I had to experiment a bit with it to find the perfect Speculoos Crust recipe. This involved a few "not good enough for the blog but good enough for my belly" trials. Hard life, right!?
After working out the crust recipe, I decided to flavour the classic Cheesecake batter with Passionfruit. I absolutely love Passionfruit; it's sweet and sour at the same time, and the seeds brings such a nice crunch!
I thought it would be a really fun way to naturally bring texture to the Cheesecake batter. And because it seems that I cannot focus on one, simple recipe, I chose to make a Raspberry Swirl to decorate the cake. I find that Passion Fruit and Raspberry work really well together as they are both relatively tangy and crunchy!
To finish this Cheesecake, you can also make my 3 Ingredients Raspberry Sauce or Raspberry Compote, Passion Fruit Coulis, Passion Fruit Curd or even Passion Fruit Ice Cream to pour over each slice!
For this Passionfruit and Raspberry Cheesecake recipe, you will need a classic Cheesecake Tin. I always recommend using a Springform Pan instead of a traditional cake tin.
The tin I used was quite large so the Cheesecake turned out relatively thin, but you can simply use a smaller Cheesecake Tin to create a higher cake. Only keep in mind that the cake will probably need to bake for longer if higher!
Recipe
Passionfruit and Raspberry Cheesecake
Ingredients
Speculoos Crust
- 25 Speculoos Cookies, or 150 grams
- 1/3 cup melted Unsalted Butter, or 70 grams
Cheesecake Batter
- 2 1/4 cups Cream Cheese, or 500 grams
- 1/4 cup Full Fat Milk
- 2 Eggs, at room temperature
- 1/3 cup Brown Sugar, or 70 grams
- 5 Fresh Passionfruits
- 5 tbsp. Plain Flour, or 40 grams
- 1/2 cup Raspberries
Instructions
Speculoos Crust
- Preheat your oven on 170°C (325°F)In a Food Processor, pulse the Speculoos Cookies until they turn into a flour. If you do not have a Food Processor, just crush them in a large bowl by hand.Melt the butter, then combine it with the Speculoos Flour.
- Line your Cheesecake Tin with Baking Paper, then transfer the Speculoos batter to the bottom of the tin.Use the bottom of a glass to squeeze the dough into a firm crust. Bake it for about 5 minutes, then let it cool down.
Cheesecake Batter
- While the crust is baking, start preparing the Cheesecake Batter.Mix the Cream Cheese and the Milk until creamy. If the Cream Cheese is too cold, it will be hard to break it.Add the Eggs, Brown Sugar, Passionfruit pulp and seeds and mix well, then fold in the Plain Flour.Pour the Cheesecake Batter on the pre-baked Speculoos Crust.
- Blend the Raspberries until liquid. If you do not like the raspberry seeds, pass it through a sieve.Pour small batches of Raspberry Juice all over the Passionfruit Batter then create a swirl pattern using a skewer.
- Place back into the oven for 45 to 50 minutes.Let the Passionfruit and Raspberry Cheesecake cool down before removing from the tin and serve cold.
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Leigh Suznovich says
Oh I am a complete sucker for any cheesecake, and I love the use of passion fruit and raspberries here! Need to make this soon! 🙂
thefoodiejourney says
Thanks Leigh, cheesecakes are the best!
Kris says
WOW! This sounds and looks amazing. First, we are cheesecake-aholics! I don't think I ever met one I didn't have a relationship with. And my favorite is with any kind of fruit. I've never made one with passionfruit. And combined with blueberries? Mmmm. And now you've got me dying to seek out speculoos cookies. And, while we're on it...I love this thin, wide cheesecake. Adds a more delicate, yet scrumptious, look and feel. Great job, can hardly wait to make this.
thefoodiejourney says
Thank you for your nice feedback Kris! Who doesn't like a good old cheesecake, right!? Definitely try to find Speculoos cookies, they are amazingly flavorful! I really need to get my hands on a smaller tin, but you are right, having a large yet thin cheesecake actually worked out great so that one slice is not too heavy... and you can go straight for a second one!
Garlic + Zest says
Well, you've sold me on this one. I mean cheesecake -- yes, of course. But that speculoos crust -- Oh-Ma-Gawd! I don't think I'll ever make a graham cracker crust again! Passionfruit is one of my all time favorites, but I confess, I've never eaten the seeds. I always strain them when I'm making a passionfruit puree or curd -- I didn't know eating them was a thing! I wish I had, because that will save a ton of work. This cheesecake looks to die for!
thefoodiejourney says
Thank you so much for this! The only cookie I use to make crust is Speculoos, they bring such an amazing flavor as well as an awesome crunch!
I love to eat the Passionfruit seeds actually! Again, all about that crunch haha 🙂
carodweller says
This looks absolutely fantastic! Cheesecake is one of my favorite desserts! Would love to try this!
thefoodiejourney says
Thanks! I love cheesecake too it is such an easy yet delicious dessert!
happyhomeschoolmum says
So good! Can't wait to try!
thefoodiejourney says
Thank you! Hope you love it as much as I did!
LaRena’s Corner says
Sounds delicious!
thefoodiejourney says
Thank you!
Monidipa Dutta says
It looks so yummy. Definitely a recipe that I am gonna try
thefoodiejourney says
Thanks! Hope you enjoy it!
Sunrita says
This cheese cake must have tangy sweet notes?! Really like the variation of flavours.
thefoodiejourney says
Exactly, a bit of tang and crunch from the fruits and some sweetness from the speculoos crust! Happy that you like it!
Anja says
Wow, this looks so delicious? Thank you for sharing this amazing recipe!
thefoodiejourney says
Glad you enjoyed it Anja!
Blair says
This looks incredible! I will seriously be making this very soon. Thank you for the inspiration ?
thefoodiejourney says
Thank you Blair! Let me know how you go when you do 🙂