Passion Fruit Cheesecake (No-Bake)

Passion Fruit Cheesecake is an easy-to-make, stunning dessert. Sweet, tart, creamy and so pretty, this no-bake cheesecake will always draw a crowd. With a ginger cookie crust and a touch of ginger in the filling, the flavor combination is incredible!

Put this Passion Fruit Cheesecake in the center of the dessert table and you will be a star.

Its alluring look, and delicious scent will draw the crowd. And one bite into the luscious filling, they'll be swooning.

Passion fruit is a tropical fruit that not everyone is familiar with. If that's you, you might want to check out my photo tutorial about how to juice and eat passion fruit before digging into the cake.

Fun fact: In Hawaiian this is called Lilikoi Cheesecake.

A ripe passion fruit should be very wrinkled.

The Ingredients

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(I often suggest brands I love and use — these are only suggestions and this is not a sponsored post.)

• passion fruit - Be sure the passion fruits are wrinkled! A smooth-skinned passion fruit is prettier, but not ripe yet. Choose those that feel heavy for their size, as they'll yield more pulp/juice. If you can't get fresh passion fruit, this frozen passion fruit purée is an excellent choice. You should be able to find it -- or a similar product -- in the frozen fruit sections of most major grocery stores. (It can easily be thawed to a liquid.)
  
• Gingersnap cookies - I suggest this one because they're very easy to find and are work well for the crust, and here's a great recipe if you want to make them from scratch.
  
• unsalted butter - It's best to bake (and cook) with unsalted butter so you can better control the amount of salt in a recipe.
• cream cheese - I recommend Philadelphia Original Cream Cheese bricks for this recipe. The consistency is perfect and you can find it almost everywhere.
• sweetened condensed milk
  
• lemon juice
• pure vanilla extract - I like Nielsen-Massey.
• ground ginger

How to Make Passion Fruit Cheesecake

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- Juice your passion fruits before you begin. (Link to step-by-step instructions is in the recipe card below.)

- Add the cookies to a food processor fitted with the blade attachment and blend them into fine crumbs. Add the melted butter and blend again.

- Pour the crust mixture into a 9-inch springform pan. Use a one cup measure to gently press it down and spread it about 2 inches up the side. Place it in the freezer until you're ready to fill it.

- In a large bowl, use an electric mixer on a low speed to mix the cream cheese with the sweetened condensed milk until smooth. Then add the ginger, vanilla and passion fruit juice. Blend until it's smooth.

- Remove the crust from the freezer and pour the filling into it. Use a small spatula to spread it out evenly. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours.

- For the passion fruit topping, mix passion fruit juice with honey and pour it evenly on the top of the cake after it’s been refrigerated.

Then Spoon about 2 tablespoons of passion fruit pulp, including the seeds, around the edges of the cake, just inside the crust.

- Place the pan on a serving platter and gently open the springform pan. Slice and serve.

(More detailed instructions are in the recipe card below.)

Recipe Tips and Substitutions

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• You can use any Ginger Snap cookies you like, but note that the amount of melted butter that gets mixed with their crumbs might vary, depending on their texture. Start with about half of the listed amount, and keep adding until the crumbs can be held together when gently pressed.
• For a gluten-free version you can use gluten-free ginger snaps.
• If you're not into ginger, use graham cracker crumbs instead, and omit the ground ginger.
• It's very important that the cream cheese be softened before you make the filling -- otherwise it will be lumpy. It's a good idea to set it out at room temperature a few hours before you're ready to make the recipe.
• Do not change the lemon juice measurements! Your cake will not taste lemon-y, but it's the acid in the juice that works with the other ingredients to help this no-bake passion fruit cheese cake solidify in the refrigerator.
• Use an electric mixer for the filling to get the smoothest, creamiest results.
• Sometimes ground ginger can clump up -- if that's the case, smooth it out with your fingers before adding it to the filling.
• If you'd like to use fresh ginger pulp instead of ground ginger, use about 2 teaspoons of it, and use a microplane zester to grate it so it's smooth.
• When you remove the springform pan, some of the crust, along the top edge, might crumble a bit. It might not be perfect and that's how it should be. 🙂
• As I mentioned above, if you can't find fresh passion fruit -- or just to save time -- there's often frozen passion fruit purée in the frozen fruit section of major grocery stores.
• This cheesecake is on the soft side, so for the cleanest, neatest looking slices, you should freeze the cake for about 15 minutes before slicing.
• On a final note, the topping on this passion fruit cheesecake is relatively thin, so when you slice it, it will likely drip down the sides. It's pretty!

How to Store Cheesecake

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You can make this no-bake passion fruit cheesecake ahead of time, and it's easy to store.

To store it in the refrigerator:
- You can store a cheesecake in the refrigerator for about 5 days, though I'd serve it only 1 or 2 days after it's made if possible.
- It should be wrapped very tightly with plastic wrap if it's still in the pan. This is how I store it, to be sure it keeps its shape until I'm ready to serve.
- Alternately, you can place it in an airtight cake container.
- Do not add the topping until you're ready to serve.

To store it in the freezer:
- The cheesecake can be stored for up to about 2 months in the freezer if it's wrapped very well.
- You can store individual slices or the whole cake.
- Without the topping, wrap each piece tightly with plastic wrap, and if you’re freezing the entire cake, place it on a dish or round piece of cardboard before covering in plastic wrap.
- Once frozen, thaw it at room temperature for a couple of hours, or place it in the refrigerator overnight.
- Again, don't add the topping until you're ready to serve.

I prefer to only freeze leftovers, and to serve it from the fridge the first time.

The above storing information is for a no-bake cheesecake. If you're storing a cheesecake you've baked in the oven, you can follow the same guidelines, only be sure the cake is completely cooled first.

More recipes with passion fruit:

• Passion Fruit Chocolate Ganache Bars
• Passion Fruit Mousse and Ice Cream
• Rum Passion Fruit Bundt Cake

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