My daughter’s birthday is tomorrow. And this daughter is, already, a better baker than me. Much better in fact. She bakes all the time. For the family, for her friends, for her colleagues. Every time something new. It’s hard to make a cake for her that would be good enough, even though, I know she’ll like it anyway.

She loves coconut, so I decided to make a coconut cheesecake. Just as her, I don’t like making the same things all the time, and who to experiment on if not your family, right?

I found a recipe somewhere here within the blogosphere, but certainly, I changed it a little bit.

Here it goes if you have a fairly big spring-form. Mine is standard, so I have a tiny separate one left for the house.

For the crust:

20 Graham crackers.
5 Tbsp butter softened
shredded peel of one lemon

For the filling:

2 packages (8 oz) cream cheese
1 package (8 oz) ricotta cheese
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup coconut cream
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp corn syrup
1/4 cup coconut flakes
a splash of rum

For the topping:

6 oz good quality white chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup heavy cream

Preparation:

In the food processor pulse the cookies with very soft butter and lemon peel until they become uniform.

Press this mixture with your hand to the bottom and sides of the spring-form, and put the form in the refrigerator for about half an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Meanwhile, beat the sugar and the cheeses together with the mixer until creamy. Add coconut cream, eggs, vanilla and corn syrup. Mix until smooth.

Fold the coconut flakes and rum, which is totally optional until the mixture is uniform again.

Spread evenly onto the crust.

Place a bowl of water on the low rack of the oven. This will help the cake to stay moist enough and prevent cracks.

Bake the cake for 15 minutes on 350F, and another hour and 15-20 minutes on 250F.

Carefully remove the cake, let cool a bit, and place in the refrigerator overnight.

Prepare the topping:

Place the chocolate and the heavy cream in a heatproof bowl over a small pot half filled with water simmering on the low heat. Stir occasionally until the chocolate is melted and the mixture id beautifully smooth.

Spread the mixture evenly on top the cake that you’ve taken from the refrigerator a few minutes beforehand.

Sprinkle the topping all over and keep in the refrigerator until served.

Hope you enjoy!