Mango-pineapple ripple cheesecake
The Story
At Christmastime every year, I made a ton of cookies. And when I say a ton…I mean it. I’ll make at least 5 kinds and for the most part, there’s only 5 of us eating. A family favorite is Linzer cookies. I’ve made them so many times that every year I switch up the filling to keep it interesting. This past year I made it with Claire Saffitz’s mango-lime curd (it’s amazing by the way) which I modified by adding pineapple. When I had a bunch of it left over I had the bright idea of swirling it through some cheesecake filling and baking it to see what happened. The result was undeniably delicious, but the curd never quite set.
After some tweaking, I was able to get the mango and pineapple ripple to set into the filling and this mango pineapple ripple cheesecake was born. I know there are a ton of cheesecake recipes out there, and I’m a fan of all of them really: pumpkin for fall, summer berry, decadent chocolate, and even the classic flavored with vanilla. The nice thing about my mango pineapple ripple cheesecake is the citrus cuts through the richness of the filling and the butteriness of the crust to give you a perfectly balanced dessert you don’t get tired of eating night after night until you’ve demolished it.
It’s honestly not the quickest or easiest recipe to throw together, but it’s great for a dinner party or a celebration when you’re looking to impress your guests. Or even cook it for you and a friend/family member to gobble up while curled up on the couch watching Netflix…no one’s judging.
And if cheesecake’s not your favorite, try out my coconut custard pie instead. The mango-pineapple ripple technique is very similar to the coconut custard filling but goes the pie route instead of cheesecake.
Difficulty: 3.5 on a scale of 1-5
Active time to prepare: 45 minutes
Total time to prepare: 4 hours - 4 hours and 15 minutes including chilling, baking, and resting
Serves: 8-10
The Ingredients
For the crust:
9 oz./255 g graham crackers, biscoff cookies, or galletas maria
1 Tbsp./12 g sugar
1/2 tsp./3 g salt
1 Tbsp./7.8 g ground cinammon
1 stick/115 g salted butter, melted, and slightly cool
For the mango-pineapple ripple:
1 half of a ripe large mango, cut into cubes
100 g pineapple cut into cubes
3/4 cup/150 g granulated white sugar
1/3 cup/50 g cornstarch sifted
1/2 cup/ 120 g lime juice
Splash of vanilla extract
3 large egg yolks
1 large egg
1 stick/115 g chilled butter cut into cubes
*NOTE: You can put the unused whites in a tightly sealed Tupperware and store them in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
For the cheesecake filling:
20 ounce/g Philadelphia cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 cup/150 g granulated white sugar
1/4 tsp./1.5 g salt
Splash of vanilla extract
2/3 cup/490 g sour cream, room temperature
Finely grated zest from 2 limes
2 large eggs, room temperature
Equipment:
9-inch/23 cm springform pan
The Recipe
Crust:
Preheat the oven to 175° C/350° F.
In a small saucepan melt the butter. Set aside to cool.
*NOTE: you can also do this in the microwave.
Add the cookies, sugar, salt, and cinnamon to a food processor. Pulse until the mixture has the texture of dry sand.
*NOTE: If you don’t have a food processor, add all the ingredients into a large plastic bag and bash it with a rolling pin until you achieve the right consistency.
Stream in the butter and pulse until the mixture comes together. It should look like wet sand.
Dump the mixture into a 9-inch (23 cm) springform pan. Using the sides and bottom of a glass or a measuring cup, work the mixture up the sides, pressing down to form the crust. Once you have established the border around all of the sides, flatten the rest across the base.
Bake the crust for 15 minutes until set and starting to brown on the edges. Set aside on a wire rack to cool.
Mango pineapple ripple:
Add the mango and pineapple to the food processor. Pulse until smooth.
Add the sugar and sifted cornstarch to a medium saucepan and whisk to combine (off heat).
Add the lime juice, mango puree, and vanilla extract. Whisk thoroughly, ensuring the cornstarch is dissolved. Add the egg yolks and whole egg and whisk again until homogeneous.
Over medium heat, whisk the mixture constantly until large bubbles appear (around 10-12 minutes).
Immediately reduce the heat to low and whisk constantly for 1 minute.
Remove from the heat and add butter a couple of pieces at a time, until fully melted. Continue this process until you’ve added all the butter.
Strain the curd through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl.
Cover the surface with plastic wrap and chill.
Cheesecake filling:
Preheat the oven to 325° C/165° F, and place a rack in the middle of the oven.
To a food processor, add the cream cheese, sugar, and salt. Pulse into smooth (scrape down the sides when it looks smooth and give it another pulse to ensure the mixture is homogenous).
Add the vanilla extra, sour cream, and lime zest. Pulse to combine
Lastly, add the eggs and pulse to combine.
Scrape the cheesecake filling into the cooled crust.
Assembly:
Add large spoonfuls of the mango-pineapple ripple to the filled crust.
*NOTE: You may not need to use all of it. Like I said in the introduction, any leftovers are great sandwiched between cookies or poured over ice cream.
Using a toothpick or skewer, swirl the ripple filling into the cheesecake to create a pretty pattern.
Bake the cheesecake until the edges are set but the center is still slightly wobbly (45 - 60 minutes approx.). Transfer to a wire rack to cool
Chill the mango-pineapple ripple cheesecake for at least 3 hours until the filling has completely set.
DO AHEAD: You can make the crust up to one day in advance and store it in the refrigerator. You can make the mango-pineapple ripple up to 3 days in advance. Cover the surface with plastic wrap and store it in an air-tight container.
LEFTOVERS: Loosely cover the pie with aluminum foil and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
