CHEESECAKE: White Chocolate Raspberry

Yet another Birthday Celebration this month (and we wonder why I have trouble not keeping a consistant weight!). My Grandmother (Hi Grandma!) loves to read my blog and always whines that she doesn’t get to taste more of what I make, so I wanted to make her something really tasty for her birthday. We started off with White Bean [Hummus] Soup (post coming at a later date), then did 40 Garlic Chicken with parmesan roasted red potatoes and roasted green beans.

The problem was dessert because Grandma loves everything, so I turned to the men (Dad & Rich) in my life to see what they wanted (Mom wasn’t much help either). They both still had visions of Rich’s Chocolate Cake Cheesecake dancing in their head and decided they wanted Cheesecake. I then decided I wanted to try a different cheesecake recipe (thank you FoodGawker Posters for giving me so many awesome cheesecakes to have to look through). I wanted something with a fruit (and had some raspberry filling in the freezer) so that narrowed down my search. When I found THIS amazing White Chocolate Raspberry [Chocolate Crust] Cheesecake on Sherman Post Food’s Blog, I knew I had a winner!

It was the perfect choice! The cooking method is great, high temp for a short time, low and slow, and then keep in oven to cool for a bit – such great texture and really easy! Feel free to make this with or without the fruit, change different fruits, or even melt in dark chocolate (I’ll let you know how that goes: think we might end up with a lightly flavored chocolate cheesecake – sounds good to me!)

White Chocolate Cheesecake with Raspberry Swirl & Chocolate Graham Crust

Raspberry Sauce

• About 1/2 cup pre-made raspberry filling

OR…

• 1 bag (12 oz) frozen raspberries, thawed
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 tsp cornstarch mixed with 1 Tbsp water

Press raspberries with a rubber spatula through a fine strainer set over a small saucepan; discard pulp and seeds. Stir in sugar. Heat over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Stir cornstarch mixture into raspberry mixture and bring to a boil, stirring just until thickened. Cool and keep aside to use later.

Crust

• 12 to 15 whole chocolate graham crackers
• 1/2 stick (4 Tbsp) cold butter, cut up

Coat an 8 x 3-in. springform pan with nonstick spray.

Break graham crackers into food processor. Process until fine crumbs form. Measure crumbs (you’ll need 1 1/2 cups), processing more if necessary. Add butter; process until crumbs are evenly moistened. Transfer to prepared pan; pat firmly over bottom and a scant 2 in. up sides (no need to be even).

Filling

• 3 bricks (8 oz each) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese (Neufchâtel), softened
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 Tbsp cornstarch
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 2/3 cup reduced-fat sour cream
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 8 oz white baking chocolate, melted as pkg directs
• Garnish – Raspberries and small mint sprigs

Heat oven to 350°F.

Beat cream cheese, sugar and cornstarch in a large bowl with mixer on medium speed, scraping down sides occasionally, until smooth. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, just until blended. Beat in sour cream and vanilla, then white chocolate until blended. Pour into crust.

To Decorate (from For the Love of Food – her method, I’m not artistic)

Starting 1 in. from edge of pan drop 12 evenly spaced 1/2-in. round puddles of raspberry sauce in a circle on cake batter. Make a second circle of 1/4-in. puddles 1 in. from first circle and a third ring of very small puddles 1 in. from second circle. Starting with outer circle, pull tip of a toothpick through each puddle to form hearts. Pull pick through puddles in second circle in opposite direction. Repeat direction used in first circle in inside ring of puddles. Refrigerate remaining sauce to serve with cheesecake. OR – do like I did & just drop your raspberry and swirl around to make it look freehanded artistic!

BAKE Bake cake 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 250°F and bake 1 1/4 hours or until center just barely jiggles when shaken. Turn off oven (leave door closed); cool cake in oven 1 hour, then remove pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

Carefully run a thin knife around edge of pan to release cake. Remove pan sides; place cake on a serving plate. Place in cake keeper or cover with a bowl or pot. Refrigerate at least 4 hours.

About 1/2 hour before serving: Remove cake and sauce (if you want extra with your cake) to room temperature.

This cake was the end of Grandma’s Birthday-Eve Celebration. For her actual birthday I took a Personal Day & we hopped into NYC to see Wonderland on Broadway. Awesome costumes, fun characters, & a message to never grow up – what more can you ask for!?

A day in the city, lunch @ Juniors, and a show with my grandma (after her awesome birthday dinner) – I think it was a good 2 days!