I’ve been making a different flavoured cheesecake at work every week. This is the first one I made with the Pichet Ong recipe from his book The Sweet Spot. Every other cheesecake that I’ve made since then is loosely based on this method. The Sweet Spot is the only book I’ve ever food entirely focussed on Asian inspired desserts. In his recipe, he added blueberries and strawberries on top but I thought it would be more Asian to include Kumquats. The great thing about this recipe is that you don’t need to bake the cheesecake. It sets with gelatine. It’s also a great cheesecake for people like me who doesn’t like the rich taste of cream cheese in most cheesecakes. This one is lighter because you’re blending the cream cheese with tofu. I know tofu sounds weird in a cheesecake but once it sets overnight, you can’t tell there’s tofu. 

This is the first time I’ve candied Kumquats. They tasted amazing! 

To candy the kumquats, I sliced them first. Then I boiled 2 cups of sugar and 2 cups of water. Stir over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Add the kumquats, reduce the heat. Simmer until the kumquat slices are translucent. About 30-35 minutes. Remove from heat. Cool the kumquats in the syrup. Strain the kumquats, reserving the syrup. Combine the kumquats and 1/4 cup syrup in a small bowl. Return the remaining syrup to the same saucepan. Boil until reduced to 1  1/4 cup. About 8 minutes. 

I’m not sure if Pichet Ong tested this recipe because I had to use half of the Graham Cracker crust that was included in the recipe. For an 8” pan which is the amount in the recipe his crust would take up half of the pan! 

I used half of this crust recipe:

Ginger Graham Cracker Crust

113 g. butter, melted
174 g. graham crackers, crushed into fine crumbs. 1 ½ cups
1 ½ cups packed brown sugar
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp salt

Grand Marnier Tofu Filling

538 g. silken tofu
1 ½ tsps fresh lemon juice
½ cup whipping cream
1 tsp salt
5 gelatin sheets
341 grams cream cheese at room temperature
156 g. sugar
3 tbsp grated orange zest
1 tbsp grated lemon zest
2 tbsp grand marnier


1- To make the graham cracker crust: preheat oven to 300 F. Lightly
butter an 8 inch round dish and set aside.

2- Put the graham crackers, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger and salt
into a mixing bowl. Mix well, then add the melted butter and mix with
your hands until the crumbs are evenly moistened. Transfer the mixture
to the prepared baking dish and press into an even layer on the
bottom.

3- Bake the crust until golden brown, about 25 minutes. Remove from
the oven and cool completely.

4- To make the cheesecake filling: Put the tofu and lemon juice in a
blender and blend until smooth. Set aside.

5- Put the cream and salt in a medium saucepan and warm over medium
heat until bubbles begin to form around the edges. Stire in the
softened gelatin until completely dissolved. Remove from heat.

6- Put the cream cheese, sugar and orange and lemon zests into the
bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle. Mix on med. Speed until light
and fluffy, about 10 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the
bowl, add the grand marnier, and mix on medium speed until smooth,
about 1 minute. Gently fold in the gelatin cream and tofu mixture
until well incorporated.

7- Pour the filling into the cooled crust. Refrigerate, uncovered
until set, at least 4 hours, or preferably overnight.