Dark chocolate, cherry and coconut cheesecake

Tamara West

This is a stunner of a dessert and the base is gluten-free.

For the base

200 g	Almond meal
½ cup	Desiccated coconut
2 tsp	Ground cinnamon
70 g	Butter, melted
6	Medjool dates, stones removed

For the filling

400 g	Cream cheese, softened
⅓ cup	Caster sugar
3	Eggs
220 g	Dark chocolate (Main)
200 g	Sour cream
1 Tbsp	Cocoa powder
1 tsp	Vanilla bean, paste or extract
1 cup	Cherry jam, I used black cherry jam

To serve

1 handful	Cherries (Main)
1 handful	Strawberries
1 handful	Raspberries
2 Tbsp	Cherry jam, I used black cherry jam
1 block	White chocolate, shaved with a peeler

Directions

1. Heat oven to 160C (non-fan forced). Line the base of a 20cm spring form cake tin with baking paper and grease the sides.
2. In a food processor, blitz all the base ingredients until well-combined. The mixture should be a crumbly consistency and hold together well when pinched.
3. Tip base mixture into cake tin and press down firmly and evenly with the back of a spoon, ensuring it is neat and flat where it meets the tin. Refrigerate while you prepare the filling.
4. Use an electric mixer to beat the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time.
5. Melt chocolate in a double boiler or in a glass bowl over a pot of simmering water. Stir in the sour cream, cocoa and vanilla, mixing until smooth.
6. Add chocolate mixture to cream cheese mixture and beat until well combined.
7. Melt cherry jam in a small saucepan on low heat for 1-2 minutes.
8. Pour half of the cheesecake mixture into the cake tin, and drizzle over two-thirds of the cherry jam. Pour over remaining cheesecake mixture, and drizzle over remaining jam. Bake for 1 hour.
9. Remove cheesecake from oven and leave to cool at room temperature for an hour before transferring to the fridge for a few hours, or overnight.
10. When ready to serve, heat cherry jam in a saucepan for 1-2 minutes, until melted.
11. Garnish cheesecake with fresh cherries, strawberries, raspberries and white chocolate shavings. Drizzle over the jam. Serve chilled.