Daring Bakers Do Cheesecake!

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

Prep note: 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. Plan accordingly!

Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake

crust:

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1 stick butter, melted
2 tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

cheesecake:
3 sticks of cream cheese (total of 24 oz), room temperature (I used the “1/3 less fat” bars!)
1 cup sugar

3 large eggs

1 cup heavy cream

1 tbsp. lemon juice

1 tbsp. vanilla extract
1 tbsp. liqueur (I used a coffee liquor)

(note: I also topped mine with a caramel sauce. The recipe for that follows below the cake photos.)

DIRECTIONS:


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.

2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan (I use a spring form pan). I suggest just pressing the crust into the bottom. Set prepared pan(s) 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 the heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and liquor and blend until smooth and creamy.

4. Pour batter into prepared crust(s) and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan, so that you can make a water bath. TIP 1: You’ll add the water once you get the pans in the oven, to avoid your possibly splashing the boiling water on yourself. TIP 2: do the pouring quickly, or go ahead and set the oven to 375, so that the temp will only drop to 350 by the time you close the door. If you do this, however, remember to then turn the oven down. YOU MUST SET THE CRUST PAN IN TWO LAYERS OF FOIL, AS YOU DON’T WANT THE WATER TO LEAK INTO THE PAN. Pour the boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan.

5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until cheesecake is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to be solid around the edge, 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 the cheesecake 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.

6. Just before serving, remove the spring form pan. Or, if adding the caramel topping as I did, leave the plan in place until after you've poured the caramel over the cheesecake and given it time to set in the fridge.





** I USED THE FOLLOWING SUGGESTED VARIATION, but also added chocolate chips, so I could create two layers (one vanilla colored, one brown):

Cafe au lait cheesecake: take 1/4 cup of the heavy cream and heat it in the microwave for a short amount of time until very hot. Add 1-2 tbsp. instant espresso or instant coffee; stir to dissolve. Add this to the remainder of cream and use as normal.

**This tasty caramel sauce recipe came from Simply Recipes. Store-bought doesn't compare to homemade, as it typically lacks dairy!

caramel:
1 cup sugar
6 tbsp. butter
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

DIRECTIONS:

1. First, before you begin, make sure you have your three ingredients measured and ready to put in the pan, as making caramel is a fast process. If you don't work fast, the sugar will burn.

2. Heat sugar on moderately high heat in a heavy-bottomed 2-quart saucepan. As the sugar begins to melt, stir vigorously with a whisk or wooden spoon. As soon as the sugar comes to a boil, stop stirring. You can swirl the pan a bit if you want, from this point on.

3. As soon as all of the sugar crystals have melted (the liquid sugar should be dark amber in color), immediately add the butter to the pan. The caramel will foam up a bit. Whisk until the butter has melted.

4. Take the pan off the heat once the butter has melted. Count to three, then slowly add the cream to the pan and continue to whisk to incorporate. The caramel will foam up again as you add the cream, which is why you should use a much larger pan (at least 2-quarts) than you think you need, to make sure you don't accidentally burn yourself.

5. Whisk until caramel sauce is smooth. Let cool in the pan for a couple minutes, then pour into a glass jar or measuring cup and let sit to cool for about five minutes. Pour over the chilled cheesecake, then return the cheesecake to the fridge for at least half an hour so the caramel gels a bit. This is a nice, thick sauce. Makes about one cup. Any leftovers can be stored in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.