If you have a few ripe bananas to use and don't fancy another banana bread, this is a great choice. This cheesecake sits on a shortcrust base and has a thick and creamy texture. Not overly sweet and made without any double or sour cream, the lower sugar and fat content in this baked banana cheesecake does not take away from flavour.
Baked Cheesecakes are my favourite. I love the thicker creamy texture coupled with the crust. Because I don't normally have digestive biscuits (or any biscuits, for that matter) at home, I always wanted to be able to make my cheesecake base from scratch. And what could be better than a buttery shortbread?
How to make a Baked Banana Cheesecake completely from scratch?
Start with preheating the oven to 160C Fan. I use a 7in (18cm) loose-bottom cake tin for the amounts stated in the recipe. Line your tin with baking parchment. I tend to draw a circle around the bottom of the tin and then cut the circle to fit the bottom perfectly.
To make shortbread base for your banana cheesecake, mix flour and sugar together in a bow. Then cube your butter and rub it in the dry ingredient mixture with your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs. It is much easier to do if you take your butter out of the fridge an hour before you start.
It is important to press your shortbread mixture into the tin base firmly. This will help when you try to slide your baked banana cheesecake off of your tin base and won't crumble as much when you're ready to slice it.
Bake it for about 20 minutes in the middle of the oven. Your shortbread should be lightly brown, but soft to touch.
Leave the shortbread base to cool down slightly whilst you make your filling. Don't skip this step! You won's get crispy buttery shortbread base for your cheesecake if you pour the filling onto hot shortbread. It will be soggy and sloppy.
The filling is very straightforward to make. Mash your bananas with a fork as well as you can, to avoid any large lumps in your cheesecake. Make sure to stir in the lemon juice immediately so that bananas don't start browning. Then add the rest of the filling ingredients and beat everything together.
Put you banana cheesecake into the oven for 45 minutes. Without opening the oven door, turn the oven off and leave the cheesecake to cool in the oven for an hour. After that, take it the baked cheesecake out and completely at room temperature before transferring it to the fridge. Your baked cheesecake surface shouldn't crack if you cool it slowly, but don't worry if it does. Just cover it up with sauce or bananas!
When you're ready to serve, run a knife around to help remove then cheesecake from its tin. Decorate with cocoa power and sliced bananas.
Serve with some whipped cream, soured cream or better yet, caramel sauce.
Baked Banana Cheesecake with Shortbread Crust
Equipment
Ingredients
Shortcrust Base
- 125 g plain flour
- 80 g butter softened
- 40 g caster sugar
Cheesecake filling
- 2 ripe bananas around 200g
- 400 g cream cheese
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 60 g caster sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ lemon juice only
Decoration (optional)
- 1 teaspoon cocoa powder
- 1 banana
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160C. Line the bottom of your cake tin with baking parchment.
- To make shortbread base, mix flour and caster sugar in a bowl and rub in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Tip this into your lined tin and press into the base with the back of the spoon.
- Bake shortbread for 20 minutes or until very lightly browned. Leave it to cool down slightly in the tin whilst you make the filling.
- Lower the oven temperature to 140C Fan.
- Mash two bananas with q tablespoons of lemon juice to prevent the banana browning. Beat in all other filling ingredients until well combined.
- Pour the filling onto your shortcrust base and put it into the oven for 45 minutes. Then turn the oven off and leave the cheesecake to cool in the oven for another hour. Don't open the oven door.
- Cool it completely at room temperature before transferring it to the fridge.
- When you're ready to serve, run a knife around to help remove then cheesecake from its tin. Decorate with cocoa power and sliced bananas. And serve with some whipped cream, soured cream or better yet, caramel sauce.
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