I can't believe I made it through this challenge...........again. Why? it's because my computer caught a very bad virus, didn't use it for many days, after it was fixed I lost my bookmarks in which I have the link to the daring bakers' secret kitchen. I frankly didn't bother and send an e-mail to request another password, that's because I did that before and was too embarrassed to ask for the code......again! I could not figure out what was the challenge until the daring bakers started posting their pictures.
The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.
Fortunately, it was an easy challenge. I find cheesecakes pretty easy to make, like most American desserts, I think. The cheesecake came out smooth and fluffy. I made half of the recipe into chocolate by adding some melted chocolate to the batter. I also used less sugar (3/4 of a cup instead of 1 cup) and used Oreo cookies for the crust.
I wish I had more time to play with this challenge instead of making a "regular" looking cheesecake.I like to always improvise in this challenge, both in the look of the final dessert and the picture. Lately, I am just taking my camera and "point & shoot" I don't have enough time to take a nice picture. I am not happy with these pictures but had to post for that daring bakers. Short visit and short post I know, let's just hope for more free time to bake and blog and as usual I hope you'll try the recipe....it's a good one.
Vanilla Bean Cheesecake
crust
2 cups / 180 g Oreo cookies (filling removed)
1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Cheesecake
3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature
3/4 cup / 150 g sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream
1 vanilla bean
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 and vanilla.
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.
I wish I had more time to play with this challenge instead of making a "regular" looking cheesecake.I like to always improvise in this challenge, both in the look of the final dessert and the picture. Lately, I am just taking my camera and "point & shoot" I don't have enough time to take a nice picture. I am not happy with these pictures but had to post for that daring bakers. Short visit and short post I know, let's just hope for more free time to bake and blog and as usual I hope you'll try the recipe....it's a good one.
Vanilla Bean Cheesecake
crust
2 cups / 180 g Oreo cookies (filling removed)
1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Cheesecake
3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature
3/4 cup / 150 g sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream
1 vanilla bean
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 and vanilla.
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.
