The first time I made this cheesecake it was for a dear friend who was moving on to greater and higher places in her career. The next time I made this was for my birthday this past year. I didn’t eat the whole thing myself, though I definitely could. I brought the cake into my gym and had everyone else eat it. Don’t worry, I cut myself a sliver to savour after the gym session.

This cake is what a cheesecake should be: all of the cream cheese a body can handle. And for me, that’s three blocks of cream cheese. Talk about a heavy and dense cake. It’s one of the creamiest cheesecakes ever, but you shouldn’t feel guilty at all. Just do what I do and give it away to your friends to enjoy.

ingredients:

CRUST
– 1 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (if you can’t find graham crackers, you can use any cracker really, ie: nilla wafers, shortbread cookies (if you use shortbread, you can skip out on butter to make the crust).
– 1/3 cup coconut flakes
– 1/3 cup chopped almonds
– 1/3 cup melted butter

FILLING
– 3 (8 ounces) packages of cream cheese
– 3/4 cup sugar
– 1 TBSP coconut extract
– 3 eggs – lightly beaten
– 1 cup coconut flakes

GLAZE
– 1 cup chocolate chips
– 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
– 1 1/2 TSP vanilla extract
– toasted coconut flakes and chopped almonds.

the way:

– preheat your oven to 350/180 degrees.
– take your springform pan and securely wrap aluminium foil around the pan.
– in a small bowl, combine the crumbs, coconut and almonds and stir in the butter.
– press the mixture into the bottom of the pan and bake for 12 minutes.
– reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees
– in a large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in the coconut extract. Add in the eggs and beat until combined. Fold in the coconut as well.
– pour this mixture onto the crust.
– take a large baking sheet and place your springform pan onto the baking sheet. Add in 1 inch of boiling water to the baking sheet.
– carefully transfer your cheesecake to the oven and bake for 45-55 minutes, or until the center is just set.
– Once the cheesecake is done, remove the springform pan from the water bath and remove the foil. Allow the cheesecake to cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes.
– loosen the edges from the pan with a knife and allow the cake to cool for an hour.
– for the glaze, place the chocolate chips in a small bowl and set it aside.
– in a saucepan, pour in the cream and bring it to a boil.
– pour the cream over the chocolate and whisk until smooth.
– add in the vanilla and stir until combined
– remove the rim from the pan and spread the glaze over the cheesecake . Sprinkle with coconut and almonds (if you want) and refrigerate until the cake is set.