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The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.
I‘ve never made a cheesecake from scratch, so this was going to be a fun challenge. There was a lot of room for creativity with this challenge, however, I procrastinated to the very last day and barely got it plated on the day of posting. No worries – it was completed and delish!
My original intention was to make an Amaretto cheesecake with an Almond/Graham cracker crust, but that didn’t happen. Instead, I made Kahlua Cheesecakelets with Raspberry sauce topped with slivered almonds. It cut down on the total baking time AND … I love the portion control. After seeing what others in the Daring Baker’s Kitchen were creating, I regretted not making a full on cheesecake instead. I will definitely make a cheesecake again!
The raspberry sauce took some time to complete so if you’re interested in trying it keep in mind that it could take a bit over an hour for the reduction time and then some cooling.
I’ve modified the following recipe slightly with the changes I made and experimenting with making smaller cheesecakes in regular-sized cupcake wells.
Crust
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 stick (4 oz) butter, melted
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Cheescake
3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)
1 tbsp liqueur, optional. For Kahlua cheesecake, I used 1/4 cup
1 pint raspberries (16 ounces)
1 cup sugar
2 cups water
In a small saucepan, combine raspberries, sugar and water. Bring to boil and then reduce to simmer and reduce mixture by 1/2. Note: Reduction took a bit over an hour.
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.
2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too – baker’s choice. Set crust aside.
3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.
4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.
5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes (about 30 minutes for cupcakelets), until it is almost done – this can be hard to judge, but you’re looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don’t want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour (1/2 hour for cupcakelets). This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won’t crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.
Pan note: The creator of this recipe used to use a springform pan, but no matter how well she wrapped the thing in tin foil, water would always seep in and make the crust soggy. Now she uses one of those 1-use foil “casserole” shaped pans from the grocery store. They’re 8 or 9 inches wide and really deep, and best of all, water-tight. When it comes time to serve, just cut the foil away.
Prep notes: While the actual making of this cheesecake is a minimal time commitment, it does need to bake for almost an hour, cool in the oven for an hour, and chill overnight before it is served.
Justin Francis Kane says
I was just wondering, you have “1 cup __________ blank” as the second ingredient after creme cheese, for the cheesecake recipe. I’m assuming it’s flour? I have no idea since I’ve never made cheese cake before, but I’d like to! Could you fill me in please? Haha ;P
Cristina - Teenie Cakes says
Hi Justin: Thanks for catching that…yikes! Guess that omission has been like that for awhile now. I’ve corrected it above. It should be 1 cup sugar. What would dessert be without sugar? 😉
Thanks again for the feedback and heads up! =o)
Lauren says
Mmm, your cheesecake looks divine! I love your decorations =D.
asti says
Adorable.. love the drizzling of the sauce. Mouth watering!