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A slice of cake on a white plate.
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5 from 1 vote

Durian Cheesecake (Perfectly Creamy & Simply the Best!)

This durian cheesecake is a perfect dessert for durian lovers. Baked in a cookie crust, this rich and creamy cheesecake is simply the best!
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time1 hour
Chilling Time4 hours
Total Time5 hours 15 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Asian
Servings: 1 Seven inches round cake
Calories: 3586.6kcal
Author: Priya Maha

Ingredients

Crust

  • 100 g Digestive cookies or Graham Crackers
  • 50 g butter melted
  • 15 g granulated sugar

Cream Cheese Filling

  • 400 g cream cheese at room temperature
  • 125 g granulated sugar
  • 150 g durian flesh
  • 20 g all purpose flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 120 g heavy cream
  • teaspoon salt

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 160°Celsius.

Making the crust

  • Crush the Digestive cookies into crumbs by processing them in a food processor or by putting them in a zip lock bag and pressing them with a rolling pin.
  • Place the crumbs in a bowl. Add the sugar. Mix well.
  • Melt butter. Let it cool down before adding to the crumbs. Mix well.
  • Transfer the crust mix into a parchment paper-lined 7 inches round springform pan and press it down evenly and firmly. Set aside.

Making the cheesecake filling

  • In a separate bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth for 30 - 60 seconds.
  • Scrape the sides of the bowl, add the sugar, flour, and salt. Beat again for 20 seconds.
  • Add in both the eggs. Beat for about 10 seconds until the eggs are well combined. Scrape the bowl and continue beating for another 10 seconds until the batter is all smooth and creamy. Do not overbeat to avoid the batter from incorporating too much air.
  • Next, pour in the heavy cream and beat again until it is well incorporated into the batter, for approximately 20 seconds.
  • In a separate bowl, mash the durian flesh until it is becomes creamy. Some durian varieties have considerable amount of fibrous pulp and that is fine. Suffice if the creamy flesh is mashed.
  • Add the durian flesh into the cheesecake batter. Beat for about 20 seconds until it is well incorporated.

Baking the durian cheesecake

  • Pour the batter into the prepared crust and bake in a water bath for 60 minutes at 160 °Celsius. When done, the sides should be firm and the center of the cake still wobbly. Turn the oven off and leave the cake in the oven for another 10 minutes.
  • Remove from oven and let the cake cool for another 20 minutes before loosening the cake tin and removing the cake out.
  • Let the cake rest in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or overnight before serving.
  • Keep leftovers refrigerated.

Notes

Keep the oven temperature low

  • Low oven temperature is essential in baking cheesecakes to prevent overbrowning of the cheesecake top. There is also a possibility for the top of the cheesecake to crack due to high temperature.
  • A general guide would be to lower your oven temperature by at least 10 degrees Celsius from the temperature used for baking normal cakes.

Do not overmix the cheesecake batter

  • Baked cheesecakes, unlike normal cakes (made using the creaming method), should not be whipped or mixed for too long. While sufficient mixing is important for normal cakes to help it incorporate as much as air as possible to help it rise well, it is contrary for cheesecakes.
  • Overmixing the durian cheesecake batter will incorporate too much air bubbles into the batter. These air bubbles will cause the top of your cheesecake to have unsightly bubbles on the surface after baking.
  • When creaming the cream cheese, make sure it is at room temperature and suffice if the cheese is beaten until it turns creamy. Ideally, this is should be within 60 seconds.
  • The sugar and eggs are added separately, and each time, these only require 20 to 30 seconds of beating each.

Position the cake in the lowest rack in your oven and disable the 'fan' setting in the oven.

  • This position will help prevent your cheesecake from browning too much at the top. It would also help prevent cracks in your cheesecake.
  • If your oven comes with a fan function, disable the fan function. This helps in avoiding the top of your durian cheesecake from over-browning as well as avoid any cracks.

Avoid overbaking cheesecakes

  • Overbaking can result in the texture of the baked cheesecakes to be leathery and eggy. It can also cause cracks in the cheesecakes.
  • Ideally, cheesecakes should only be baked until the sides are set but the center still wobbly. The cakes will continue to cook as they cool down in the oven after baking (turn off the oven and leave the cakes in the oven for 10 minutes after baking).
  • Letting the cakes rest in the oven after baking helps them to cool down gradually. This gradual cooling down process also helps avoid cracks in cheesecakes due to sudden temperature changes.   

Nutrition

Calories: 3586.6kcal | Carbohydrates: 294.6g | Protein: 47.8g | Fat: 255.9g | Saturated Fat: 142.6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 17.7g | Monounsaturated Fat: 64.2g | Trans Fat: 1.9g | Cholesterol: 975.5mg | Sodium: 2432.3mg | Potassium: 1537.7mg | Fiber: 7.6g | Sugar: 190.3g | Vitamin A: 8926.7IU | Vitamin C: 30.3mg | Calcium: 542.1mg | Iron: 3.8mg