Raspberry Cheesecake

I recently discovered this blog called Oui Chef and ever since then, I have been drooling over his post every week. A month ago, he made a Raspberry Cheesecake that was from Ina Garten. I knew those two combinations could not steer me wrong.

I decided to make this cheesecake for my dad's birthday. It was a great success! I did make a few changes to the recipe. I halved the recipe to start because there's no way my parents can finish such a large cheesecake. I used a shortbread crust instead of the graham cracker crust and I omitted the raspberry jam due to complete laziness on my part. heehee.

The texture is nice and creamy. It's not as heavy as the New York Cheesecake, but solid enough that you feel like you're eating a real cheesecake. It's so easy to put together too!! Make it today!! Here's the recipe with my adaptations.

I have also included some tricks for making a crack free cheesecake!!  See below!

 Raspberry Cheesecake adapted from Ina Garten via Oui Chef  Crust: 125 g butter, very cold, cubed small 42g sugar 125g flour 

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Work the butter, sugar, flour and cacao with a food processor or your fingers to get a sandy mixture. Work the dough for a minute. Press into the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool completely.

 Cheesecake filling: 1 1/4 pounds cream cheese, at room temperature 3/4 cups sugar 3 whole large eggs, at room temperature 1 extra-large egg yolks, at room temperature 2 tbsp sour cream 1 1/2 tsp grated lemon zest (1 lemon)  raspberries 

1. Preheat the oven temperature to 450℉.

2. To make the filling, cream the cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Reduce the speed of the mixer to medium and add the eggs and egg yolks, mixing well. Scrape down the bowl and beater, as necessary. With the mixer on low, add the sour cream, lemon zest, and vanilla. Mix thoroughly and pour into the cooled crust.

3. Bake for 15 minutes. Turn the oven temperature down to 225℉ and bake for another 30 to 45 minutes. Turn the oven off and open the door wide. The cake will not be completely set in the center. Allow the cake to sit in the oven with the door open for 30 minutes. Take the cake out of the oven and allow it to sit at room temperature for another 2 to 3 hours, until completely cooled. Wrap and refrigerate overnight.

4. Remove the cake from the spring form pan by carefully running a hot knife around the outside of the cake. Leave the cake on the bottom of the spring form pan for serving. 5. Decorate with raspberries.

Notes:
Here are a few tips for making crack free cheesecakes!

• *The cheesecake will crack when it's overbaked.  
• *It will crack if the batter is over beaten, so make sure you start with room temperature ingredients to minimize beating.  
• *The cheesecake will crack when there's a drastic change in temperature, that's the reason for letting the cheesecake sit in the oven with the door open.
• *Another trick is to remove the cheesecake from the oven after baking and run a thin knife along the edge, put the cheesecake back in the oven to cool gradually.  This is too loosen the edge so when the cheesecake shrinks after baking, it won't crack.
• *If all else fails and you still have a cracked cheesecake, have no fear. I have a trick to fix it!!  Put your cheesecake in the fridge until it's set. Using a warm knife, carefully bind the cracks together by running the warm knife on each side of the crack to bind the crack.  It really works!