Banana Cheesecake

Yesterday I went to Aeon. Gawd! It was like Chinese New Year all over again. People came in throngs, rushing in from both entrances. "All the GST gila babi are here", my partner announced.

It looks like people are coming out to stock up on their necessities before the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax on 1st April 2015. At the check out counter, I had a peek at what they bought. Majority had stacks of toilet rolls in their trolleys. LOL! But seriously how much can you stock and how much can you really save? I know for high value items, the savings is significant but toilet paper?

Anyway, let's talk cheesecake. I love banana cake but when I saw the recipe for Banana Cheesecake, I wasn't so sure. I don't know, somehow banana and cheese just didn't seem to gel for me.

But I had some ripe bananas and one half of the chocolate sponge cake that I used to make Peanut Butter Banana Cake. With that, I decided to go ahead in spite of my reservations. I also decided to make salted caramel because I thought that it might go well with the cheesecake. Yeah, I needed an excuse to make salted caramel.

The sponge cake, though baked in an 8" tin, shrank a little bit. As such, it could not cover the entire bottom of the removable cake pan. I could not leave it like that because the cheesecake filing would spill over the sides and to the bottom. To solve that problem, I used one packet of Oreo biscuits to make the base.

The sponge cake went over the Oreo base and the filling was poured over the sponge. It worked quite well because even though the filling poured down the sides of the sponge cake, at least it did not leak onto the bottom of the pan.

Quite honestly when I ate my first slice, I was not impressed with the taste. And I poured some salted caramel on the cake to make it taste better and it did. But surprisingly, the next day, the banana flavour came through and it tasted very good even without the salted caramel.

Though I enjoyed the Banana Cheesecake, quite honestly, I doubt if I would bake another one again. 

Banana Cheesecake
Recipe source : Loosely adapted from Alan Bakes Really Good Cheesecake (page 52)

Cheesecake base :
- 1 packet (137g) Oreo biscuits
- 60 melted butter
- One 8" chocolate sponge cake with 2 cm height

Cheesecake Filling :
- 250g cream cheese
- 135 ml Greek yogurt
- 100g caster sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 3 ripe medium sized bananas, mashed (I used pisang berangan)
- 3 eggs

Method :

For the base :
1. Grease an 8" cake pan with removable base. Wrap the outside of the cake pan in 2 layers of aluminum foil.
2. Finely crush the oreo biscuits together with filling.
3. Add melted butter and mixed until well incorporated.
4. Pour the crushed biscuits into the pan and press evenly onto the bottom of the pan. Set aside the pan in the fridge.

For the filling :
1. Beat the cream cheese with caster sugar until well blended.
2. Add Greek yogurt and beat well.
3. Add vanilla essence and beat in eggs one at a time.
4. Add mashed bananas and mixe well.

To assemble :
1. Take the cake pan out of the fridge and place sponge cake in the middle of the pan.
2. Pour cheesecake filling into the pan and tap gently on work surface to remove air bubble.
3. Bake in a water bath at 140C for 45-50 minutes or until the outer ring of the cake is set but the center is still wobbly.
4. Remove cake from the oven and leave to cool completely.
5. Place the cake in the fridge to chill for a few hours or overnight.

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs Up organised by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY and hosted by Faeez of BitterSweetSpicy.

This post is also linked to Cook-Your-Books #21 hosted by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours.