Monday, April 27, 2009

White Chocolate Cheesecake
























The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

I love cheesecake: New York, lighter cream cheesecakes, baked ones, unbaked ones, cake based ones, graham cacker crusted ones, oreo crusted, cream topped, sour cream topped, fruit topped, name it, I LOVE IT! 

Given all the varieties of cheesecake, it was difficult to choose what to do for this daring baker challenge. I ended up with a white chocolate cheesecake with strawberries and cream. I always liked white chocolate cheesecakes but I usually make t quite light.  This time, Abbey's recipe was a dense heavy but creamy texture that complemented the 8 oz of melted white chocolate couverture that I added to it. I also excluded the lemon.  

It was an absolute dream.  The white chocolate just added a hint of a surprise-a tinge of sweetness to counter the tang of the cream cheese. Top it with strawberries and it couldn't be More perfect! THANK YOU JENNY from JennyBakes.com for another great challenge! 









Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake:

crust:
2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs
1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted
2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

cheesecake:
3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature
1 cup / 210 g 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, but choose what will work well with your cheesecake

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). 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, 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. 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.

16 comments:

Unknown said...

Mmmm...I love white chocolate and I bet the strawberries were great with your flavors. Beautiful job!

Leslie said...

Love your white chocolate version!!

Deeba PAB said...

Perfect & very pretty. Love the addition of white chcolae...mmmm...INDULGENT!!

vibi said...

WOW! the results are really nice looking! I'm sure they were just as tasty!
You have great talent and good eye measuring skills, to create such even decor! Bravo!

Angela said...

That is a really pretty cheesecake! I love the combination of piped cream and berries to decorate it.

Hilary said...

I almost went with white chocolate and then decided on pumpkin. Yours looks lovely.

Erin said...

white chocolate sounds so tasty! I love the way you decorated the top, too!

Jude said...

The pattern on top looks fantastic. Very elegant.

Unknown said...

Your cheesecake is perfection! This is a beautiful adaptation of the recipe. Thanks for participating in this month's challenge!

Anonymous said...

Stunning result, pixie!! It looks like a high end bakery cheesecake -so beautiful! Ain't white chocolate grand? Especially with strawberries! Awesome, awesome cheesecake!

ice tea: sugar high said...

strawberries & white chocolate sounds like a perfect pair. Love your decoration, so cute!

Anonymous said...

I'd say your piping came out quite nicely... love the alternating rings with the strawberries! Lovely!

bellaguinness said...

Pretty - love the raspberry design! Thanks for visiting my blog.

I find lavender really easily in the dried floral section of craft stores and McCormick's has lavender in the spice section. Even if your grocery store doesn't carry it, I know you can order it from the McCormick's website.

Cheers!
bg

bellaguinness said...

Oops! Those are strawberries! Lovely, nonetheless.

Anonymous said...

Lovely decorating job, you cheesecake looks fantastic!

Curious Cook said...

That is such a pretty pretty cheesecake. Wow! I'm sure it tasted awesome too but cutting into one would be such a heartbreak, considering it is so pretty to look at!