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A coconut, pineapple and rum based piña colada cheesecake with a coconut and biscuit base, and pineapple and coconut on top!
Piña colada cheesecake
Piña. Colada. Cheesecake. Need I say more?Okay… so I was meant to go through this period last year of posting more co*cktail based bakes on my blog, and yeah that didn’t happen.
I had all the intentions, but my schedule of posting got the better of me and then I didn’t think winter was the best time to start posting them.So, it’s now the following year, and I am READY to post more. Starting with this INSANE piña colada cheesecake. Oh hey, yeah, that is correct.
From the beginning of this post, I will mention how this is more based on my gi then anything, and it DOES use a setting agent. Out of the 75+ cheesecakes on my blog, this is my second that uses some kind of setting agent.
Setting agent
There are different kinds of setting agents out there, but the best and easiest to get will always be Gelatine. Unfortunately, of course, this makes the cheesecake not vegetarian-friendly, but there are vegetarian versions available such as Agar Agar which is my favourite veggie alternative, or vege-gel which is available in supermarkets but not quite as good (in my personal opinion).
I wanted this piña colada cheesecake to be as piña colada themed as I could possibly get it, so after experimenting, I felt the only way to get the real flavours would be to need a setting agent otherwise the flavours were just too tame!
Flavour
My version of a Pina Colada co*cktail consists of pineapple, coconut and rum. There are various versions of a piña colada about in the world, but through everyone that I have asked, these are the most prominent bits you think of when someone says “piña colada”.
Base
For the biscuit base, I just wanted to go down a classical route of a ‘buttery biscuit base’ but I took inspiration from my Bounty cheesecake and used desiccated coconut in the base along with the butter and biscuits. It gives it a delicious flavour.
Coconut cream
For the filling, I also took some inspiration from my Bounty cheesecake and used coconut cream in place of double cream. Coconut cream is NOT coconut milk, so please buy the correct one! I found mine in the Thai section of the supermarket.
I find it important to store the coconut cream in the fridge overnight before using as it made it thicker in a way, and suited the temperature of the other ingredients (the cream cheese mainly) so made it much easier to do!
Pineapple
For the pineapple side, some people may go “but you can’t make pineapple jelly with fresh pineapple juice” and you would be correct. There are some fruits out there such as fresh pineapple that will not ever set like a jelly. However, use tinned pineapple (and juice) and it’ll work. Apparently, this is down to how is processed for being tinned.
Rum
The rum is optional, but I love rum so had some available to use… and if it’s going to be a classic piña colada cheesecake then it needs it. Obviously, if you want to make it kid-friendly then leave it out and keep the bottle for the adults. Top up the pineapple juice by 50ml, and using 100ml more coconut cream!
Gelatine
When it came to the gelatine, as I had used leaf gelatine in my , I thought I would stick with the same as it worked so well! You can get powdered gelatine, but I tried that with this recipe and it just didn’t work as well in my opinion!
You can feel free to try the cheesecake without a setting agent, but with the pineapple juice, and rum added in, I really much preferred it with the setting agent. I hope you guys love this piña colada cheesecake as much as I did! Enjoy! X
Piña Colada Cheesecake!
A coconut, pineapple and rum based piña colada cheesecake with a coconut and biscuit base, and pineapple and coconut on top!
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Category: Dessert
Type: Cheesecake
Keyword: co*cktail, Pina Colada
Prep Time: 25 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes
Setting Time: 5 hours hours
Total Time: 5 hours hours 45 minutes minutes
Servings: 14 Slices
Author: Jane's Patisserie
Ingredients
Biscuit Base
- 275 g digestives (or graham crackers)
- 50 g desiccated coconut
- 150 g unsalted butter (melted)
Cheesecake Filling
- 5 Dr Oetker gelatine leaves
- 150 ml pineapple juice (from a tin)
- 100 ml white rum
- 75 g caster sugar
- 500 g full fat cream cheese
- 75 g icing sugar
- 250 g coconut cream (chilled)
Decoration
- Tinned pineapple chunks
- Toasted coconut
Grams - Ounces
Instructions
For the Biscuit Base!
Blitz your biscuits in a food processor to a fine crumb, and add in the desiccated coconut and blitz again briefly to combine.
Alternatively, add your biscuits to a large bowl and bash with the end of a rolling pin to a very fine crumb and stir through the coconut.
Add in your melted unsalted butter, and mix until combined.
Press into the bottom of an 8"/20cm deep springform tin and leave to the side for now.
For the Cheesecake Filling!
Get a bowl with cold water in, and your gelatine leaves to soak for at least five minutes. The water needs to be cold!
Add your pineapple juice, rum, and caster sugar to a small pan, and heat on a medium heat whilst stirring to dissolve the sugar.
Once the mixture is hot, check your gelatine leaves are squishy - if ready, squeeze out and excess water and then add into the hot pineapple/rum mixture and whisk until the gelatine is dissolved.
Leave the mixture to cool for 5-10 minutes whilst stirring occasionally.
Add your cream cheese and icing sugar to a stand mixer and whisk until smooth.
Add in the coconut cream and whisk again until smooth!
Whilst whisking, slowly pour in the liquid making sure its whisking in properly!
Pour the cheesecake mix onto the biscuit base. Set in the fridge for a minimum of 5-6 hours, or preferably overnight.
For the Decoration!
Once the cheesecake has set, remove it carefully from the tin. I run a knife around under the biscuit base to detach it from the base of the tin and slide it onto a plate.
Decorate the top of the cheesecake with the pineapple chunks from the tin, and some extra coconut! Enjoy!
Notes
- I used the Del Monte pineapple chunks in juice tin for this!
- You can switch the gelatine for an alternative brand, or a vegetarian version of gelatine. Or you can use powdered gelatine (I much prefer leaf gelatine though!)
- You should use tinned pineapple with juice for this recipe, as fresh pineapple chunks and juice may cause the gelatine to not set at all.
- I used coconut cream to keep the piña colada theme, but you can easily switch to double cream if you would prefer.
- I used Koko Kanu rum as its coconut flavoured and utterly delicious, but any white rum should do the trick!
- The rum is optional, but it won't be the same without it! If you don't want to use it, use 50ml more pineapple juice, and 100ml more coconut cream!
- This cheesecake will last for 3 days once set!
ENJOY!
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