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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Mom's Dinner says
I am SO delighted with this recipe! I have only had Speculoos at Trader Joe's here in America. But, I love the flavor! I can only imagine that as a cheesecake crust!
I also had fresh passionfruit for the first time this year in the Dominican Republic. I was hooked at first bite. I also love how the seeds add the perfect crunch.
thefoodiejourney says
Aren't the crunchy bits of the passionfruit the best!? Instantly makes what you are eating more fun!
Sarah says
I love the idea of using biscoff cookies as a crust! I made a cheesecake with ladyfinger cookies as the crust awhile back, and I think any cookie is fair game. I bet the stronger flavors from the biscoff cookies work so well with the passion fruit! YUM! I'll take a slice. Or two. Or three 😉
thefoodiejourney says
I really loved the spicy, cinnamony flavour of the biscoff mixed with the strong sur taste of passion fruit, they balanced each other perfectly!
Gloria says
I have never met a cheesecake I did not like. I have never tried passion fruit....so this looks totally amazing. Such a great presentation. Always a crowd pleaser...and perfect as a celebration dessert for any occasion.
thefoodiejourney says
Hard to find a bad cheesecake, lets be honest haha! Perfect for any occasion, or you to treat yourself 😉
cookienameddesire says
I love cheesecake and the flavor profile here sounds INCREDIBLE. I think Speculoos are the perfect excuse to make some cheesecake
thefoodiejourney says
Perfect excuse indeed.. though I don't usually need an excuse for cheesecakes haha!
carmyy says
I LOVE that the crust uses Speculoos Cookies! Such a delicious and fun idea - I'm obsessed with cookie butter so in turn, I love Speculoos Cookies. The colour of the passion fruit and raspberry is gorgeous as well. I can't wait to try this!
thefoodiejourney says
Thank you so much! Speculoos are SO great to use for pie crust 🙂
pattysaveurs80 says
Oh your cheesecake looks so delicious! I like to add fruits in my cheesecakes and I absolutely love a speculoos crust, it's my go to cookie crust for cheesecakes, they give a lot of flavors and some crisp. I also like oreos for crusts for the same reason!
thefoodiejourney says
Speculoos are definitely my favourite for any type of crust! Glad you enjoyed the recipe 🙂
Felicia says
This fruit combo sounds absolutely delicious! I am pinning this recipe to return to later.
lilthoughtswithjen says
this looks amazing! i've always wanted to try making cheesecake but it seemed too daunting--this recipe seems to be tackable!
xx Jen
http://lilthoughtswithjen.com/
thefoodiejourney says
It's actually one of the easiest cake you can make, you should give it a try 🙂
janna conner says
I love passion fruit anything and speculoos too (my husband's Belgian) Thanks for sharing!
thefoodiejourney says
Thanks Janna, and hello to another fellow Belgian! I'm sure he would love this recipe!
thesweetteaspoon says
This looks to die for! I can't wait to try this! I never thought of using passion fruit!
thefoodiejourney says
Passionfruit are definitely an awesome fruit to use in cakes!