A recipe for gluten-free cheesecake*

Eurgh. “Gluten-intolerant” people**

I dread asking people ‘any dietary requirements?’ before they come over for dinner. Mainly because gluten-intolerant, lactose intolerant and even ‘no sugar’ are responses that pop out of friends’ mouths like unwanted spit. It’s boring and I’m pretty sure the majority are lying. Having experienced the unwanted effects of a 100% gluten and lactose intolerant person when they dangerously tuck into a cheese toastie, I can smell a fibber a mile away. [Dad, this excludes you as you’ve been tried and tested and are 100% ok to claim your title of gluten-intolerance.]

So damn you friend who not only requested cheesecake for when you came round for dinner (easy!) but also followed it up with, ‘oh, I’m gluten-intolerant, I hope that’s ok.’ Matey, if you were really were, why apologise? And thank goodness you’re not lactose intolerant either because that would have been a real bitch.

But enough moaning. Taking what I learnt from my recent WOW Workshop, the benefits to this were:

a) I get to experiment with a recipe for gluten-free cheesecake

b) I get to eat cheesecake

Suddenly it’s not all bad.

Since the local shop didn’t sell gluten-free biscuits, I set myself the parameter of ‘only using what I could find in the house’ which did start me wondering on whether rice pasta would make a good cheesecake base. Moving hastily on, and I settled on gluten-free cereal flakes from PERK!ER. They were raspberry flakes but hey, you can’t win on everything.

The base is a lot chewier than normal cheesecake bases and makes a great alternative to the norm.

Here’s my gluten-free cheesecake with a PERK!ER base:

(makes enough for 4)

Ingredients

For the base

• 1 cup of Raspberry PERK!ER flakes
• 100g of butter, melted (or a quarter cup of coconut oil if you fancy)
• 5 tablespoons of mixed nuts
• 10 finely chopped dates
• 1 tablespoon of ginger

For the topping

• 1 zest of a lime
• 1 zest of a lemon
• 1 juice of a lemon
• 1 250g tub of mascarpone cheese
• ¼ cup of sugar

Method:

1. Crush the PERK!ER flakes using a pestle and mortar. Alternatively, put into a double-bagged plastic bag and smash (gently!) with an empty wine bottle or rolling pin.
2. Put the brushed flakes, nuts, ginger and dates into a bowl and add the melted butter or coconut oil. Mix thoroughly.
3. Scoop the base into a small 20cm x 20cm tin, or small ramekins ensuring the mixture is pressed down firmly. Place in the fridge.
4. In a clean bowl mix together the mascarpone and sugar with a fork.
5. Loosely mix in the zest and lemon juice. Taste as you go and add more sugar or citrus juice as suits you.
6. Remove the base from the fridge and add the topping, smoothing as you go. Refrigerate for an hour and then it’s ready to go!

Enjoy with a glass of prosecco after dinner.

*This cheesecake is by no means healthy which automatically means it has no place on the 30ish.me website. 

**Truly gluten-intolerant people I have no qualms with. I don’t even mind it when people say they’re avoiding gluten. but if you’re not gluten-intolerant (and you’d know it if you were), don’t bandy it around.