The other day I got a wild idea to try and duplicate a dessert I’d eaten while we were in Las Vegas last month.
Part of the complex, involved, slightly frightening directions included a cheesecake layer.
Deciding to actually make a cheesecake from scratch, I combed through several recipes and finally came up with this one.
It is the best home-made cheesecake to ever come out of my oven. They are usually either dry, taste weird, or just not up to snuff.
This one was perfect. Captain Cavedweller even thought so and that is saying something.
Without further ado, here’s the directions.
Cheesecake
2 (8-ounce) packages of regular cream cheese, at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
2 large eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1/3 cup whipping cream
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place a pan large enough to hold your springform pan in the oven to warm. Put a kettle of water on the stove to boil.
Spray a 9-inch springform pan with non-stick spray and line the bottom with a round of parchment paper. Spray it with the non-stick spray as well.
Wrap a double layer (or a layer of heavy-duty foil) around the outside of your pan, making sure it comes well up the sides of the pan. You want to make sure no water can sneak in a crack and get into the springform pan.
In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until it is smooth and creamy. Add sugar and salt and mix on medium speed for about two minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition. Mix in sour cream, whipping cream and vanilla until mixture is smooth.
Remove the large pan from the oven where it has been warming. Place your springform pan into the pan then pour the cheesecake batter into the springform pan. Carefully pour boiling hot water into the large pan so that it comes about an inch or so up the sides of the springform pan. (You can use a large roasting pan. I found a skillet I never use in the back of my cupboard that was just big enough to hold the springform.) Place in the oven and bake for about 45-60 minutes. (The cheesecake should have been done in 45 minutes, but yours truly got busy writing in her next novel and lost track of the time. An hour had passed when I realized it was long past time to remove the cheesecake from the oven. It was done to perfection. )
Remove from the oven when the cheesecake is set and no longer jiggly. Remove the springform pan for the larger pan and let cool on a rack for at least an hour. When it has cooled, serve immediately or freeze for later eating pleasure.
I served this one with fresh blackberries and whipping cream but you could top it with whatever strikes your fancy, fruit, chocolate, nuts, caramel. This is a nice basic cheesecake that you can add to as you like. You will notice this cheesecake does not have a crust – and you can certainly make it with one if you choose.
Enjoy!
She Who Likes Cheesecake Way More Than She Should
