In honor of National Cheesecake Day, what better thing to talk about than Cheesecake! Raise your hand if you love to eat cheesecake! Now, raise your hand if you love to BAKE cheesecake. Yeah, that’s what I thought. (Incidentally, my hand didn’t go up either).
I know firsthand how it feels to watch your beautiful, flawless masterpiece of cheesy YumOliciousness turn into an unappealing cracked mess. Well my friends, with a few tips and techniques and ALOT of patience, you will not only be able to CREATE your masterpiece, you will be able to SHOW OFF your FLAWLESS masterpiece! Imagine hearing all of the “oohs” and “ahhs” when you present your masterpiece to your family and/or guests!
TIP #1 – Mix your cheesecake batter well, eliminating all possible lumps of cream cheese BEFORE adding the eggs. Simple, right?
TIP #2 – Bake the cheesecake in a water bath to keep the moisture high and the heat gentle.
TIP #3 -DO NOT overbake the cheesecake! When perfectly done, there will be a 2″-3″ soft spot in the middle of the cheesecake that will smooth out as it cools.
TIP #4 – Cheesecakes shrink as they cool. If you generously grease the baking pan before baking, it will allow the cheesecake to pull away from the PAN as it shrinks instead of pulling from the middle.
And most importantly, cook slowly and gently and BE PATIENT!
Below is a recipe for my all-time favorite dessert done Cheesecake Style.
Love and best dishes from my nest to yours. See y’all next time!
TIRAMISU CHEESECAKE
2 (8 oz) pkgs cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 tbs brandy
12 ladyfingers, split
1/2 cup strong black coffee
1 cup cool whip, thawed
1 square semi-sweet chocolate, shaved
mix cream cheese, sugar and vanilla at medium speed with electric mixer until well blended. add eggs; mix until blended. blend in brandy. arrange ladyfingers on bottom and sides of a 9″ pie plate; drizzle with coffee.
pour cream cheese mixture into prepared pie plate.
bake at 350° for 40 minutes, or until center is almost set. cool. refrigerate 3 hours or overnight. garnish with cool whip (pipe it on if you can) and shaved chocolate just before serving. (I also sprinkle a little bit of cocoa powder on it too).
8 servings
