Groovy Pineapple Right-Side-Up Cheesecake

 

Last weekend I had the pleasure of making a cake for Gayle's Groovy 60th Birthday. The theme was 1960's, which is so fun and opened up a world of possibilities for entertaining.

The actual birthday cake was being covered by my sister, who made this gorgeous daisy covered Lemon and Lime White Chocolate Mud Cake, so it was left to me to come up with an alternate dessert for the party.



Gorgeous daisy birthday cake - 60's but not too much so. The cake had been cut when I got to it for a photo, it hadn't erupted!

Inspired by a pineapple upside down cake- which I think screams the 60's - I decided on a baked cheesecake with caramelised pineapple.

I was so pleased with how it came out. It looks particularly groovy photographed next to the invitation to the party, made by the lovely Lauren.

The cake is pretty easy to make. It's baked and chilled as usual, then decorated with caramelised pineapple and maraschino cherries.

Now, if only I could get Don Draper around for a piece!

 

Caramelised Pineapple Baked Cheesecake

(The basis of this cheesecake is the Women's Weekly New York Cheesecake, with an Arnott's Butternut Snap biscuit base. The coconut and golden syrup in the base goes better with the pineapple than the usual plain biscuit base. Having said that, I've never met a cheesecake base I didn't like, so use whatever you can get your hands on)

Ingredients

Cheesecake

1 packet (250g) Butternut Snap Cookies
125g butter
750g cream cheese
1 cup caster sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp finely grated lemon rind
2 tsp finely grated orange rind
1/3 cup (180g) sour cream
3/4 cup (60ml) lemon juice


Topping

6 pineapple rings
1/2 cup brown sugar
20g butter
Maraschino cherries for decoration

Instructions

1. Process (or bash up - remember I don't have a processor!) the biscuits until fine.
2. Melt butter and combine with biscuit crumbs. Press the mixture over the base and sides of a 24cm spring form pan. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
3. Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan-forced).
4. Beat the cream cheese, rinds and sugar in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then the sour cream and juice.
5. Pour the filling into the pan; bake for 1 hour 15 minutes. Remove from oven and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. 
6. To make the pineapple topping, melt the butter in a fry pan until it bubbles. Cover the pineapple rings with brown sugar and fry each side until browned.
7. Finally, without being too cheesy - put the cherries on top! 



Here are some smaller ones I made as testers. They could quite easily have been the main attraction.