'Fire Your Passion' Cheesecake

‘FIRE YOUR PASSION!’ screamed the labels on passion fruit juice bottles that I had picked up in a supermarket in Ooty during summer last year and from which I’ve derived the name for this cheesecake.

It was a bountiful season of passion fruit for me, thanks to a couple of friends who have the vine growing in their gardens. There was the purple as well as the yellow variety and apart from making the usual juice, which is loved by all at home, I set out to make a cheesecake as well.

For a biscuit crumb base to fit a 9” loose-bottomed flan tin, you need to crush the life out (not to worry, it isn't a criminal offence) of 180 gms of Marie Gold biscuits and mix the resultant crumbs with 75 gms of melted butter. Then pat it firmly into the base and sides of the flan tin and refrigerate till it hardens.

For the filling, whisk together till smooth 250 gms of curd cheese (obtained by draining a litre of curd of its whey) with one tetrapak of Amul fresh cream, 6 tablespoons of icing sugar, a few drops of lemon juice, a dash of vanilla essence and 1 teaspoon of gelatine dissolved in about three tablespoons of warm water. Ensure the gelatine is cooled before adding it to the mix.

Spoon the mixture evenly into the flan tin and refrigerate till firm and set. Pour the passion fruit pulp over the cheesecake just before serving. Cut in wedges and serve.