Friday, May 15, 2009

Black & White Marbled Cheesecake

Posted by CB / 28 comments » / chocolate, dessert

Alright already! I get it.

I made a mistake. I misquoted. Whatever you wanna call it.

I made this cheesecake (slight caramel variation) back in December for my baking group, Tuesdays with Dorie, and mentioned that my favorite cheesecake was actually from TGIFridays. If you don’t remember, let me jog your memory mkay? But what I didn’t know and what many readers since then have emailed me is that TGIFridays gets their cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory. {smacks head}

Thanks TGIFridays. You just made me look like schmuck in front of my readers. Thanks for that. So I’m going on record now to say… my favorite cheesecake is from The Cheesecake Factory b/c TGIFridays is just the middle man.

Happy?

Whew! I’m glad to get that off my chest.

Now I can move on with my life.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve made Dorie Greenspan’s cheesecake. Of all the recipes I’ve made from her book this is the one that gets requested over and over and over again. I am sure I’ll eventually try every variation in her book. I’ve been drooling over the orange version. Baker friends tell me it tastes like a creamsicle. Holy yum batman!

But for this one I decided to go classic chocolate and vanilla. I made this it for Mother’s Day. (Yeah yeah it’s been almost a week so sue me!) And I find it highly amusing that T’s mom requested a cake and T gave me this long convoluted explanation that a cheesecake has “cake” in the name so therefore I should make cheesecake for his mom’s request of “cake”. Basically the man is a sucker for this cheesecake.

I know you will be too.


Recipe from Baking: From My Home To Yours, Dorie Greenspan

Makes about 16 servings (or 8 PHAT slices!)

INGREDIENTS

For the crust
1-3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons sugar
Pinch of salt
1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted

For the cheesecake
2 pounds (four 8-ounce boxes) cream cheese, at room temperature
1-1/3 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1-1/3 cups sour cream or heavy cream, or a combination of the two
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled

INSTRUCTIONS

To make the crust—
Butter a 9-inch springform pan—choose one that has sides that are 2 3/4 inches high (if the sides are lower, you will have cheesecake batter leftover)—and wrap the bottom of the pan in a double layer of aluminum foil; put the pan on a baking sheet.

Combine the crumbs, sugar and salt together in a medium bowl. Pour over the melted butter and stir until all of the dry ingredients are uniformly moist. (I do this with my fingers.) Add graham cracker crumb mixture into buttered springform pan and use your fingers to pat an even layer of crumbs along the bottom of the pan and about halfway up the sides. Put the pan in the freezer while you preheat the oven.

Center a rack in the oven, preheat the oven to 350°F and place the springform on a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Set the crust aside to cool on a rack while you make the cheesecake.

Reduce the oven temperature to 325°F.

To make the cheesecake—
Put a kettle of water on to boil.

Working in a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese at medium speed until it is soft, about 4 minutes. With the mixer running, add the sugar and salt and continue to beat another 4 minutes or so, until the cream cheese is light. Beat in the vanilla. Add the eggs one by one, beating for a full minute after each addition—you want a well-aerated batter. Reduce the mixer speed to low and stir in the sour cream and/or heavy cream.

Put the foil-wrapped springform pan in the roaster pan.

Add 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled to 1/3 of the batter in a separate bowl. Pour all of the vanilla batter into the springform pan, dollop the top of the batter with the chocolate batter and use a table knife to swirl the chocolate batter with the vanilla batter.



I think I was suppose to dollop little amounts of chocolate all over but I was a little overzealous pouring it out and created one big blob! Oops! HAHA

Put the roasting pan in the oven and pour enough boiling water into the roaster to come halfway up the sides of the springform pan.

Bake the cheesecake for 1 hour and 30 minutes, at which point the top will be browned (and perhaps cracked) and may have risen just a little above the rim of the pan. Turn off the oven’s heat and prop the oven door open with a wooden spoon. Allow the cheesecake to luxuriate in its water bath for another hour.

After 1 hour, carefully pull the setup out of the oven, lift the springform pan out of the roaster and remove the foil. (Be careful, there may be some hot water in the aluminum foil.) Let the cheesecake come to room temperature on a cooling rack.

When the cake is cool, cover the top lightly and chill the cake for at least 4 hours, although overnight would be better.

ENJOY!

Husband rating: A+
He absolutely loves this cheesecake recipe and requests it for any and every occasion. He raved about the mix of chocolate and vanilla batters.

Wifey rating: A/A+
I love this cheesecake recipe. It’s my go-to recipe. I am a cheesecake purist though so I like pure vanilla cheesecake more than the marbled variation.

Other rating: A+
Nothing but raves from family and friends. Everyone loved the chocolate swirls!

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28 comments

28 Responses to “Black & White Marbled Cheesecake”

  1. 1

    April — May 15, 2009 @ 5:48 am

    Looks delicious! I agree that the orange would be wonderful!

    • CB replied: — May 15th, 2009 @ 9:12 pm

      I know right?! I keep saying that I am gonna bake the orange version the “next” time but hasn’t happened… yet.

  2. 2

    Screwed Up Texan — May 15, 2009 @ 6:13 am

    Oh, you should not have shared this cheesecake recipe with me b/c you are now the #2 reason why I can’t give up desserts. That’s okay, not like I was trying to quit anyways…:)

    Love the “correction,” I had fun reading it!

    • CB replied: — May 15th, 2009 @ 9:13 pm

      #2? Who’s #1? I’ll challenge them to a throwdown!

  3. 3

    Cze-Johnson Carrie — May 15, 2009 @ 6:43 am

    those pictures made me want to lick my screen.

    nicely done!

    • CB replied: — May 15th, 2009 @ 9:14 pm

      I thought I was the only that licked their computer screen! I get disappointed every time when I only get dust. :(

      HAHA

  4. 4

    food librarian — May 15, 2009 @ 8:05 am

    looks awesome! i didn’t know that TGIF gets their stuff from CF…thanks for the education! but your cheesecake looks better than either one of them!

    • CB replied: — May 15th, 2009 @ 9:15 pm

      See…? I’m the only one that didn’t know that. It’s not like TGIFridays advertises that they are cheesecake imposters… HA!

  5. 5

    Jill — May 15, 2009 @ 8:40 am

    I knew nothing of this TGIF/CF connection. But as much as I love CF, your cheesecake looks even better!!

    • CB replied: — May 15th, 2009 @ 9:16 pm

      Why thank you very much! That’s a huge compliment :)

  6. 6

    pinkstripes — May 15, 2009 @ 10:32 am

    Definitely sounds like a winner. It looks wonderful!

    • CB replied: — May 15th, 2009 @ 9:16 pm

      Thank you!

  7. 7

    Erin — May 15, 2009 @ 10:49 am

    Gorgeous! Great job! It looks divine.

    • CB replied: — May 15th, 2009 @ 9:17 pm

      Thank you Newbie! (Said with love of course)

  8. 8

    stephchows — May 15, 2009 @ 12:19 pm

    MMMMMMMMM the swirls are wicked pretty, good job!! MMMM cheesecake would be good right about now… yuuum

    • CB replied: — May 15th, 2009 @ 9:18 pm

      I was pretty psyched for the swirls myself! Simple pleasures… haha

  9. 9

    Steph — May 15, 2009 @ 12:47 pm

    The cheesecake filling looks so smooth! I have to make a cheesecake now that I have the beater blade. I usually just do it in the food processor because the mixture always curdles in the stand mixer

    • CB replied: — May 15th, 2009 @ 9:20 pm

      Secret weapo >> Mix cream cheese for good 4 minutes here and 4 minutes there (per Dorie’s instructions) until light. Honestly I think that’s what makes the cheesecake taste SO good!

  10. 10

    Erin — May 15, 2009 @ 2:34 pm

    This looks delicious!

    • CB replied: — May 15th, 2009 @ 9:20 pm

      Thanks chicky!

  11. 11

    Joelen — May 18, 2009 @ 8:33 am

    Beautiful job!!

  12. 12

    susan — May 19, 2009 @ 5:15 pm

    I have to try this- I came across your post and stopped dead in my tracks. This is gorgeous! My family will die! Thanks…

    • CB replied: — May 21st, 2009 @ 6:26 am

      Please do! I think this will become your go-to cheesecake recipe from now on. I love it and will never try anything new. Why fix it it aint broken right? :)

  13. 13

    girljapan — May 20, 2009 @ 2:32 am

    You made this… ah I just don’t believe no way…. I am so jealous, that looks fabulous, my cheesecake came out “bleh”– but I digress.. I must try again… you have given me hope = )

  14. 14

    CB — May 21, 2009 @ 6:26 am

    Yup! Yup! I did! I did! Aaaww what happened to your cheesecake? What recipe did you use? Definitely try again! It’s worth it. I heart cheesecake.

  15. 15

    debbmarie — May 21, 2009 @ 8:40 am

    You are the cheesecake queen! It looks soooo good. I will be adding this to my cheesecake collection! Your former T&C partner, Debbie

    • CB replied: — May 22nd, 2009 @ 9:04 pm

      What can I say? I love me some cheesecake! Thanks for keeping in touch former T&C partner :)

  16. 16

    Black & White Marbled Cheesecake « Wine Lover’s Cooking Diary — July 3, 2009 @ 8:59 am

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