New Idea Food
Every now and then, a much-loved recipe deserves a fresh upgrade.
For us, that meant revisiting my Carrot Cake Cheesecake, first developed back in 2019. A delectable blend of creamy cheesecake and warmly spiced carrot cake – it was the perfect starting point for a little reinvention.
Our Food team tossed around a few flavour ideas — chocolate, banana and ginger among them before Hummingbird Cake was the clear standout.
With a similar texture to carrot cake, but the banana, pineapple and pecans offer a lovely tropical sweetness that would beautifully complement a cheesecake layer.
What actually takes the cake?
I dug through the archives for Hummingbird Cake inspiration and started working through the technical questions. It’s never as straightforward as a simple swap!
The cake batter would need to be scaled back, but by how much? I also had to carefully balance sweetness combined with the flour and eggs, so that the cake is tender but with enough structure to support the cheesecake mixture.
The key is getting the quantities right. Too much batter and it could overflow; too little and the cake that comes out of the oven would look flat rather than fabulous.
And what about the bake? After testing plenty of cheesecakes over the years, I know that around 150°C–160°C fan-forced is usually the sweet spot for a baked cheesecake.
Putting it to the test
I typed up the recipe and crossed my fingers.
Food Editor Karen took on the first test, and the result was promising: it looked and tasted great, but had a slight crack on top, suggesting it had spent a touch too long in the oven.
There was also some debate around sweetness.
Karen’s son Pat and I both thought it could be slightly sweeter, although most taste testers felt it was spot-on. Eventually the consensus was to leave the flavour as is and tweak the cooking time.
We reduced the bake time by 10–15 minutes, and when Photo Chef Kerrie made it for the shoot, the result was exactly what we’d hoped for: smooth, creamy, crack-free, and, of course, irresistible.
If you want an extra tip from us, we served this cheesecake at room temperature, but it can be refrigerated and served cold.
Now on to the next reinvention — brownie cheesecake, anyone?
Ingredients
Method
Invert base of a 23cm springform pan (base measures 22cm). Grease and line base and side with baking paper, extending paper 2cm above pan edge. Place on an oven tray.
CAKE BATTER: Drain pineapple, then pat dry with paper towel. Cut pineapple into smaller pieces.
Beat eggs, sugar and oil in small bowl of an electric mixer for about 6 mins, or until pale and slightly thickened. Transfer to a large bowl.
Fold in combined sifted flour, cinnamon and soda with pineapple, banana, pecans and coconut. Spread 1½ cups over the base of prepared pan.
Beat cream cheese and sugar in same, clean bowl of electric mixer until smooth. Beat in sour cream and flour. Then beat in eggs, one at a time, until just combined.
Spoon half the cream cheese mixture over batter in pan, then spoon over remaining cake batter. Spoon remaining cheese mixture over top. Gently spread to cover.
Cook in a 160C (fan-forced) preheated oven for 55 mins – 1 hour, or until just set. It should still have a slight wobble. Remove. Stand in pan at room temperature until cool.
Remove side of pan. Transfer cheesecake to a serving plate. Top with whipped cream. Serve dusted with sifted icing sugar and extra cinnamon.
