Jamaican Ginger Cheesecake 🇯🇲🍰

Sez
Aug 4, 2020
4 min read

Last weekend, I baked a Semi-naked Biscoff Birthday Cake for my friend's sister and it was so glorious. The layers were made up of 2 flavours, Jamaican Ginger and Vanilla. I also had my friend's dog's 1st birthday party the next day so I thought why not make a Ginger cheesecake? The idea was intriguing and I decided to make the base out of crumbled Jamaican Ginger Cake because life is all about taking risks.

It was risky and I was a bit worried it wouldn't be tasty but everyone loved it so much! My friend's dad said it was the best cake he has ever had so that is very good to hear. Obviously I want to share the recipe so here you go guys! It obviously takes a bit more effort as you have to bake the cake, crumble it then turn it into a cheesecake base, but trust me it's worth it 🥰

This recipe was also part of a collaboration with my pal @thehoradiaries. We decided to run an "Everything's Peachy" collab and that is why I have grilled peach slices on top! Go check out her page too for her beautiful peach galette 🍑

Serves: 10 - 12 people, depending on slice sizes and greed levels

Difficulty: Level 1 but a bit more effort

Wow factor: ⭐⭐️⭐️⭐⭐

Ingredients

For the Jamaican Ginger Cake base:

125gr unsalted butter
90gr soft dark brown sugar
70gr black treacle
2 eggs
125gr self-raising flour
1.5tsp ground ginger
1tsp ground cinnamon
1.5tbsp soured cream
2 nuggets of stem ginger, chopped into tiny cubes
extra 50gr of melted unsalted butter (to make cheesecake base)

For the cheesecake filling:

340gr full-fat cream cheese
40gr soured cream
150ml double cream
3tsp ground ginger
5tsp ginger syrup (I used the syrup from a jar of stem ginger)
75gr caster sugar - you can add more if it's not sweet enough for you

For the topping:

1 can of peach slices
1 lime, zested

Instructions

Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees celsius and line an 8-inch cake tin with baking paper.
To make the cake, all you want to do is cream the butter with the sugar using an electric whisk until paler and slightly more fluffy. Add eggs and continue to mix.
Then using a spatula, incorporate the treacle, soured cream, and stem ginger. Now mix in your self-raising flour and spices.
Pour mixture into cake tin and pop it in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until you insert a wooden skewer and it comes out clean.
When this is done, set aside to cool.
Make the cheesecake filling. Using an electric whisk, beat your cream cheese until fluffy. Add soured cream and double cream, and beat again until this is well incorporated and the filling looks more structured. The whipped double cream should be helping with this.
Now add your ground ginger, ginger syrup and sugar. Continue to mix until incorporated. Taste the mixture. If this is not sweet enough or you think it needs more ginger flavour, feel free to adjust to your taste. Pop this in the fridge while you deal with the cheesecake base.
To make the cheesecake base, pop the oven back on to 180 degrees celsius. Now all you wanna do is take the Jamaican ginger cake you've made before, and crumble this cake into small crumbs. I used a fork to do this but you can also use your hands or a food processor.
Once the cake has turned into crumbs, add 50gr melted butter and mix well.
In a 10-inch, loose-based cake tin, add your cake crumbs. Press it down hard using the back of a spoon or a spatula. This will be your cheesecake base so please ensure that you pack it in tightly!
Pop this back into the oven for 10 minutes to re-seal the cake crumbs again. I know this seems a bit of a faff but honestly it's worth it!!
Take it out of the oven and let it cool for 30 min - 1 hour.
Once this is cool, pour in your cheesecake filling mix all over the cheesecake base and pop this in the fridge ideally for 6 hours at the very least.
While the cheesecake is chilling, grill your peaches. I used my cast iron grill pan and just grilled the peach slices until I could see the charred bits on them. I didn't need to use extra oil or anything. If you can't be bothered then skip this step completely.
Once the peaches are ready and the cheesecake has had at least 6 hours of chilling time, take it out of the fridge and lay the peaches on top. Sprinkle some lime zest and a bit of the juice that came in the can of sliced peaches.
Pop this back into the fridge until it is time to serve.
When it is time to serve, all you wanna do is release the cheesecake from the cake tin and use a clean knife to cut pretty slices. Enjoy!