Monday, August 2, 2010

Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake


Happy Monday All!

August is here! (Thank goodness) Hopefully this signals an end to the craziness that was July and I can get back into my blogging groove. It has been hard to hole up indoors when there are so few sunny days in this part of the world. Mr Humble and the Little Humble have been demanding a few less desserts and a few more hours of sunshine.

The throwing of river rocks is best done
outside of the Humble Kitchen


However the mornings are beginning to be foggy and chilly once again and we've been spending more and more time indoors. This has resulted in some real time in the kitchen and I have plenty lined up for this week.

Mother Humble is in town visiting as well, helping herself to all my butter and whatever I'm currently turning out, be it gelato, pastries or today's cheesecake. The rapidly disappearing butter has been made up for by her trip to the local farmers market and I am flush with oodles of local fresh fruit.



The plan was to make jams but since that hasn't materialized, I'm stealing some for this week's cooking and today's desert: Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake



Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake
serves 8-10
adapted from Martha Stewart Living May 2004
(cupcake version can be found in Martha Stewart's Cupcakes)
1 cup (5oz) finely ground graham crackers
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons granulated sugar

6 ounces (1 1/2 cups) raspberries
2 tablespoons sugar

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
4 packages (32 ounces total) cream cheese, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
pinch salt
4 large eggs, room temperature

pot boiling water, for the roasting pan

Pre-heat the oven to 350°F.

Place a 9" spring form pan onto a double layer of wide aluminum foil. Wrap up the sides of the pan to make it water tight. You don't want any foil seams or edges on the bottom or low on the sides of the pan, or water may creep in while it is baking.

Combine the graham crackers, 2 tablespoons sugar and the melted butter in a large bowl and mix. Firmly press the crumbs into the bottom of your spring form pan. I find that a flat bottomed ramekin or coffee cup is useful for pressing the crumbs evenly and tightly into the pan.

Bake the crust until set, roughly 10 minutes and then allow it to cool on a wire rack.

Reduce your oven's temperature to 325°F.

Purée the raspberries and then strain out the seeds and any solids. Add 2 tablespoons of sugar to the strained puree. Pour into a small sauce pan and bring the raspberry sauce to a bare simmer over medium low heat. Reduce the sauce for 1-2 minutes until it has thickened slightly and then set aside to cool.

In the bowl of your mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese on medium speed until smooth and fluffy (roughly 3 minutes). Reduce the mixer's speed to low and add the 1 1/2 cups of sugar in a slow steady stream. Beat in the salt and vanilla and then on low speed, beat in the eggs, one at at time. Adding the next after the first has been incorporated. Take care not to over mix as the eggs can trap air in the batter and this leads to all sorts of cheesecake trouble.

Once you've mixed in the last egg, pour the batter into your prepared crust. Dot the top of the batter with drops of the raspberry sauce and with a knife or wooden skewer, swirl the surface of the batter to create the marbled effect. Reserve the remaining sauce for garnishing later.







Set the cake into a large roasting pan and place into the oven. Carefully ladle the boiling water into the roasting pan. Fill the pan no higher than the lowest edge of the foil, or you run the risk of baking a cheesecake soup.

Bake until the cake is puffy and set but the center is still has a slight wobble. This will take approximately 65 minutes.

If your oven tends to brown your cheesecake, lightly tent the pan with foil.

Allow the cake to cool completely in the pan on a wire rack. Transfer the cake to the refrigerator and allow to chill overnight (or a minimum of 6 hours).

To serve, run a knife around the edge of the cake to release from the pan and remove the spring form collar.

Slice with a damp clean knife

Serve slices with a little (or a lot) of the remaining raspberry sauce.



Enjoy!

Note on the giveaway: I mentioned I would do the drawing sometime last week, however I'm still waiting to have the gift certificate in hand. To all of you eagerly awaiting to see if you're $150 richer in CSN kitchen swag, patience. Once I have the certificate, will do the final announcement.

32 comments:

  1. Beautiful! I do a similar recipe with blueberries when they come in from the co-op. Here's the link: http://southlakesmom.blogspot.com/2009/07/crockpot-cooking.html
    My family says I haven't mastered it yet though, so they'll need a LOT more samples to see if I ever get it right. Ha ha.. I'm on to them.

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  2. So gorgeous! I love raspberry!

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  3. It does look very similar! I love marbled cheesecakes.

    Sampling cheesecakes is serious business. It requires a lot of hard work and dedication.

    I really want to create a peanut butter cheesecake, one that uses real peanut butter (not peanut butter flavored chips) but I've discovered it takes a lot of work. I'm dedicated though. I'm committed to the long haul.

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  4. You are simply nifty!!It's wonderful!

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  5. i am going to bake this ...query: the cake does not have to "rest" in a turned off oven at all??
    thanks ms.h... little h = adorable....
    &.... peanut butter cheesecake sounds divine!

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  6. Sitting in the oven post-baking isn't needed for this cheesecake.

    I've baked this cheesecake many times over the years and have never had trouble with the recipe.

    If you're worried about the cake cracking as it cools, I suggest placing a collar of parchment inside the pan before pouring the batter. This will allow the cheesecake to pull away from the sides of the pan as it cools and contracts.

    I should note that the raspberry sauce itself can lead to cracking (it messes with the cake's surface tension). However if the sauce has been thickened a bit (the reduction on the stove) and you don't use big gobs of it on the surface of the cake, the cracks are usually minor.

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  7. i want that cake!!

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  8. Wow. What an amazing-looking cake. Beautiful.

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  9. Love it!Fantastic look, and I think the reduced raspberry syrup gives a deep taste, too.

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  10. Just want to say I luv luv luv your blog =) Oh so delicious.

    xo Your latest follower
    http://dialogueswithafruitcake.blogspot.com

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  11. Just simply beautiful!!! Fantastic... Super... Wonderful!!! ( I can go on forever!!) Thanks for sharing. You are an inspiration.

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  12. I just can't eat something that beautiful!.....OK YES I CAN

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  13. Want want want. I still haven't ever made a cheesecake!

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  14. this is a family favorite and i make it all the time! it is the perfect cheesecake base! i have made the same cake with a caramel swirl and it is just as good! your looks yummy!

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  15. ohhh...that's pretty. love your swirling technique!

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  16. Oh, this looks so beautiful... I want that so much. However, I'm back home in Malaysia and raspberries/berries in general are not exactly local fruit and therefore expensive and not the best quality :( I'm going to have to save this recipe for once I'm back on British soil. I've never made a baked cheesecake using the water-bath method so will have to give it a go!

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  17. I once won a Dutch oven cookoff at Scout camp with a cheesecake recipe that was to die for.... chocolate wafers and butter for the crust, then two-thirds chocolate cheesecake batter covered with one-third with almond extract in it. Garnished with whipped cream (chilled and then shaken up in a Nalgene water bottle) and strawberries. OMG, you never had anything so good for breakfast with coffee in camp.

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  18. wow...pure poetry your cheescake...!!
    simply gorgeous!
    ciao! alessandra

    p.s. a great place seattle.. I've spent a beautiful morning at the pike place market some years ago....

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  19. what a beautiful cheesecake!! those swirls add so much to that great cheesecake!

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  20. Fantastic! I cant wait to try this. Thanks for the tip about placing a collar of parchment inside the pan.

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  21. Wow that looks so delicious! Just a question, how did you make the swirls look like those beautiful flowers? I'm sure mine would just turn into a big clump of red!

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  22. Such a Beautiful cake.. I tried it today but it was too runny and the raspberry sauce just sunk in! :...(
    Dont know what I did wrong though..
    Hopefully it will taste good, didnt try it yet! :)
    Fingers Crossed!

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  23. Peach,

    Really all it takes is a quick swirl with a skewer. I just try to 'tag' all the raspberry blobs once as drag it through.

    That's it.

    Though I will say the less you swirl, the better it looks. (Marbling is all about knowing when to stop.)

    Ala'a,

    Hmm. Not certain what happened, but I can offer up a few tips.

    Use full fat cream cheese (not low-fat or non-fat) it produces the best batter.

    Don't use a lot of raspberry sauce on top of the cake. The more sauce you have in one spot the deeper it will sink. Use just enough to create the design. If you really want to use a more raspberry sauce in this cake, you can swirl it into the batter, not just on top. Marbling the entire cheesecake.

    The thicker the raspberry sauce, the less it will sink into the batter. So if your sauce is thin, allow it to simmer on the stove-top for a little longer until it has a thicker, syrup like consistency.

    If all else fails. Tell everyone it is supposed to do that and pass it off as a marbled cheesecake.

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  24. Thanks for the tips.. I just wanted to let you know everybody absolutely loved it and i didnt even have to say that its supposed to be a marble cheesecake, they assumed it on their own :)
    Thank you for the beautiful recipe and help..

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  25. I am sorry but my English isnt that well..
    What do you mean by

    "Fill the pan no higher than the lowest edge of the foil, or you run the risk of baking a cheesecake soup."

    Which one is the lowest edge of the foil?!
    Thanks,
    Susan

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  26. Suzan,

    Really all it means is: be careful that no water can get into the foil wrapping around the cheesecake when you put it into the water bath.

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  27. This looks delicious! Your photographs are beautiful!
    I've recently launched my own blog, I'd love for you to check it out and let me know what you think! www.prettygoodfood.com
    Thanks and Happy Cooking!

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  28. Hi Ms Humble,

    I made this cheesecake for my sister's birthday last week and it was a huge hit! I was so pleased - my first attempt at making a cheesecake. Thanks so much for the wonderful recipe!

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  29. The best cheesecake ever, I made it last weekend. Evereybody was impressed by it. I ask for it for my birthday as a birthday cake from myself.

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  30. wow, this was a great cake, my first cheesecake ever, here in the Netherlands it is not so common.
    this was my first, but not my last!

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  31. I'm going to try this in a dutch oven...... Hope it resembles your photos!!

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