A super creamy and colourful ‘unicorn’ cheesecake I baked last weekend with a gluten free oreo cookie crust, a touch of lime and lots of fresh berries on top. ?
Are there any other sad gluten free people out there who have to bake their own Birthday cake? ? I literally never get a Birthday cake ever since being gluten free and honestly I don’t usually care, but this year I decided to make my favourite: cheesecake!
I’ve been making this exact recipe for yeeears, before I was even gluten free, and it’s just so good. I find cheesecake can vary a lot in terms of taste and texture, but if you like it rich, creamy and not too ‘cakey’ (there’s only two tablespoons of flour in it) then you might like this one. And I personally love adding some lime juice and zest in there, it gives the flavour such a nice kick. ?
P.S.: And since it was my Birthday, I thought it was only appropriate to add some colours and you can easily add them in layers to create a rainbow cake. ?
Gluten Free Unicorn Cheesecake recipe:
- 135g gluten free digestive cookies (or any cookies you'd like, I used Morrisons gluten free oreos)
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter (30g)
- 500g plain cream cheese
- 85g soured cream
- 120g sugar
- 1 + ½ Tbsp flour (25g) (I used Doves Farm gluten free self-raising flour)
- A pinch of salt
- 1 + ½ eggs (75g)
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
- Zest of 1 lime
- Juice of half a lime
- Food colouring (I used Dr.Oetker gel colouring)
180C (356F) for 10 mins (for the cookie crust alone)
+
220C (428F) for 10 mins (with the cheesecake batter)
+
110C (230F) for 25 mins
+
1 to 2 hours (sitting in the oven with the heat completely turned off)
* I recommend using a springform cake tin with a clip that allows you to remove the side from the base. It makes things so much easier. ?
Directions
Prepare the cookie crust:
- Crumble the cookies as fine as you can and mix with the butter (melted in the microwave first).
- Grease your cake tin with butter and add the cookie mixture at the bottom, pressing it down with a spoon so it’s compact. Note: I recommend using a springform cake tin.
- Bake in a pre-heated oven (180C / 356F) on the middle shelf for 10 minutes. Then take it out and let it cool down while you prepare the filling.
Prepare the filling:
- Turn the oven temperature up to 220C / 428F.
- With a handheld mixer with paddle attachment (or a whisk), beat the cream cheese for a couple of minutes on low/medium speed until smooth and creamy.
- Add the sugar, flour and salt and keep mixing, scraping the sides with a spatula from time to time to make sure everything is mixed properly.
- Add the vanilla extract, lime juice and zest and then add the eggs, followed by the soured cream and mix briefly until you reach a smooth and somewhat light and airy consistency (but don’t overdo it).
Prepare the unicorn cheesecake filling:
- Separate the cake batter into different bowls for each different colour, add your choice of colouring in each and mix well with a spoon. Note: some colouring turns out much lighter after baking so bear that in mind. For that reason, I recommend using gel food colouring which is much better!
- Add the unicorn cheesecake batter into the cake pan, either in layers (like a rainbow cake) or by adding dollops of different colours here and there (like I did, see pictures above). Try to make each layer as flat and smooth as possible.
Cook the unicorn cheesecake:
- Bake for 10 minutes on 220C / 428F, then turn the temperature down to 110C / 230F and keep cooking for another 25 minutes. When shaking the pan, the cheesecake should still wobble slightly.
- At this point, turn the oven off completely and leave the cake sitting in there with the oven door closed or slightly opened for an hour or two. Then store in the fridge.
Enjoy!
