The sweet creamy slice of the Mango Cheesecake held firm on the cake cutter. The crisp, buttery graham cracker crust stayed together. I savored a forkful of this fruity heaven on a Filipino cheesecake. It was like a dream.
I’ve written it before and I’ll say it again. Dad always said “The best and sweetest mangoes are those that are tree-ripened”. How I wish I could harvest a fresh tree-ripened mango again one more time, the way I used to when we were kids in the Philippines. My late dad was the authority on agriculture and produce. He pioneered in farm to fork methods back in the Philippines, as a regular way of life.
As for mangoes,the Philippines’ national fruit, we had trees in our yard and our farm for generations before me. Nobody else knew the fruit the way Dad did. I miss his reminders about how to harvest a good one, how to store them, how to slice it.These were the little things that I took for granted as a child, but have stayed like a permanent imprint on my subconscious filed under “Mangoes: Good to Know This”.
Yesterday was my late dad’s birthday. I thought of him as I arranged the fresh ripe golden mangoes in my fruit bowl at the dining table. I held up one big giant Ataulfo mango, sniffed its fragrance, felt its soft ripeness and I knew this one would be superb on a cheesecake.
So I quickly retrieved my basic cheesecake recipe. It was a simple one-piece cream cheese concoction I had devised a long time ago – more out of desperation because I had ran out of ingredients and decided the short list will do fine.
I mixed in a fresh pureed mango, topped the fresh slices on the already done cheesecake and even poured some mango glaze syrup all over it. The result was mango-marvelous. If dad were still with us today, I would have loved to make this for him on his birthday. But in his absence, I’ll live in the present and take the mango-memories of everything he taught me about my favorite fruit. Happy Birthday, Dad!
Mango Cheesecake
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 11/3 cups graham cracker crumbs
- 6 Tablespoons melted unsalted butter
- 1 pack (8 oz.) cream cheese softened at room temperature
- 3 whole eggs
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup mango juice from a fully ripened fruit or canned mango juice
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
- 1 whole fresh ripe mango pitted, sliced in strips, ataulfo variety
- 1/2 cup mango juice
- 1/2 cup sugar
Instructions
- Mix these ingredients together for the crust: Sugar, graham cracker crumbs, sugar. Press firmly with a fork into an 8-inch pie plate. Refrigerate for 20 minutes to firm up. Then bake in a reheated oven at 350 F degrees for 15 minutes. When done, take out of the oven and set aside.
- Using a stand mixer, over medium speed, mix together the cream cheese, eggs, sour cream, mango puree and lemon extract.
- Pour the filling into the prepared graham cracker crumb crust.
- Bake in a preheated oven 325 F degrees, for 40 to 45 minutes. Test for doneness, if knife comes out clean, it is done.
- Take out cheesecake from oven and cool on the counter.
- When thoroughly cooled, arrange the mango slices on top in a decorative shape. Boil together the half cup sugar and mango puree till it becomes syrupy and slightly thick. Pour the mango syrup over the cheesecake and sliced mango topping just before serving. Chill the cheesecake for 6 hours or more and serve cold.
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Nutrition
Notes on Nutrition: The nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and specific brands of ingredients used.
Wow I’m a cheesecake lover, yet I realized I haven’t tried mango cheesecake. That thing existed?! SO delicious. Very nice tribute to your father.
Hi Nami! Yes, a mango cheesecake is possible if you love mangoes as much as I do.And thanks for the kind comments. It was a nice way to remember my late Dad!
Elizabeth, I love the story of your father and your tribute to him. My mother will often tell me how she climbed mango trees in her youth, and I can only imagine how wonderful it was to be able to handpick my absolute favorite food! Please please continue with more mango posts 🙂
Hi Catherine! So kind of you to stop by and enjoy my post. Yes, I miss my childhood days and the mangoes. I don’t think I’ll ever tire of writing about mangoes. Thanks for your comments!
I love mangoes, and mango cheesecake is one of my favorite cheesecake flavor thus far. Btw, Betty ann, I meant to send you the picture of the ihaw, we had it yesterday and I used George Foreman as I previously mentioned.
I know I will cook it again though, so no worries ill be sending you a picture next time haha.
Happy sabadao!
malou
Hi Malou! So nice to hear from you & even more thrilled that you tried the “Inihaw na Baboy”! Glad it turned out well. I will do ours again & make your Dinengdeng as the veggie side ~ just got a big batch of water spinach/kangkong from the market. Thanks for stopping by. Happy Sat. eats to you & family 🙂
What a beautiful mango cheesecake and how lovely to have grown up with mango trees in your own backyard. And yes, fruit is always better when it’s allowed to ripen on the tree.
Thanks, Hotly Spiced! Glad you came by to blog-visit!
bonjour! oohh how i love your mango cheesecake 😉 We are cheesecake lover. In fact i made your mango cheesecake last wednesday as a birthday cake for my daughter. She is a big fun of mango. I agree, more mango post to come i hope. Thanks for sharing. Nice presentation and your photos are really tempting yum!!!!!!
Thanks, Maruh! Glad you got to make the mango cheesecake. Hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. So nice of you to blog-visit!
I could dig into this right now… Happy Sunday 🙂
Thanks,CJ! Yes, this mango cheesecake was fantastic! Happy Sun.,too!
This looks yummy! I will try to make this and let you know the result. Thanks for posting this recipe.
Thanks, Lucy. Let me know how your mango cheesecake turns out !
my grandkids love mangoes, but one of them has egg allergy, do you have a substitute for eggs, I will definitely try this thanks
Hi Eder, I’m not a nutrition expert, so I hesitate to make substitute suggestions which I’ve not tried. But I have an eggless recipe for calamansi pie if you’d like. Here is the link on this blog https://asianinamericamag.com/2013/09/calamansi-pie-the-filipino-lime/