27.4.09

DB#30 or Cheesy (cake) time!

Café au lait Cheesecake with Caramel

I love cheese. Any cheese, all types of cheese, anytime! Cooked, simple, baked, in savoury or sweet recipes. I LOVE cheese.
What are my feelings about cheesecake? It's gooooood! Knowing that April's challenge would make the Daring Bakers to get into cheese land left me with a smile on my face when I first read the recipe Jenny had chosen. Thanks Jenny, it was a wonderful one!

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake

Café au lait cheesecake with caramel sauce

crust:
2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs
1 stick / 120 grams butter, melted
2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

cheesecake:
3 sticks of cream cheese, (710 grams total) room temperature
1 cup / 210 g sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup / 250 ml heavy cream
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)
1 tbsp liqueur, optional (I used whisky)

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. take 1/4 cup of the heavy cream and heat it in the microwave for a short amount of time until very hot. Add 1-2 tbsp. instant espresso or instant coffee; stir to dissolve. Add this to the remainder of creaml. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.

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.

Top cheesecake with homemade caramel sauce.

Café au lait Cheesecake with Caramel

Ina Garten's Caramel sauce here.

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup water
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Mix the water and sugar in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan. Cook over low heat for 5 to 10 minutes, until the sugar dissolves. Do not stir. Increase the heat to medium and boil uncovered until the sugar turns a warm chestnut brown (about 350 degrees F on a candy thermometer), about 5 to 7 minutes, gently swirling the pan to stir the mixture. Be careful – the mixture is extremely hot! Turn off the heat. Stand back to avoid splattering and slowly add the cream and vanilla.

Simmer over low heat, stirring constantly, until the caramel dissolves and the sauce is smooth, about 2 minutes. Allow to cool to room temperature, at least 4 hours. It will thicken as it sits.

Pan note: The creator of this recipe used to use a springform pan, but no matter how well she wrapped the thing in tin foil, water would always seep in and make the crust soggy. Now she uses one of those 1-use foil "casserole" shaped pans from the grocery store. They're 8 or 9 inches wide and really deep, and best of all, water-tight. When it comes time to serve, just cut the foil away.

Prep notes: While the actual making of this cheesecake is a minimal time commitment, it does need to bake for almost an hour, cool in the oven for an hour, and chill overnight before it is served. Please plan accordingly!

Café au lait Cheesecake with Caramel

My thoughts on the challenge:
- The recipe worked fine for me. I've used half recipe (2 small eggs) to bake 6 individual ramekins - it took about 25 minutes.
- Café au lait cheesecake with caramel sauce was a perfect match of flavours. I've added half a tablespoon of whisky which gave it a Bailey's Liquor taste that worked really nice with the remaining ingredients!
- Half recipe is enough for the sauce if not using full cheesecake recipe.
- I'll definitely be making the cheesecake again perhaps in a chocolate or fruity version.

Check all the amazing variations fellow Daring Bakers came up with here!

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks so yummy with the caramel sauce, great job!

Susan from Food Blogga said...

I haven't even eaten breakfast yet, and I'm dying for a piece of this gooey deliciousness.

Zita said...

Aww..look at that flowing caramel... delicious!!!

JMom said...

We went for the same flavor variation but your photos are so much better. Very artistic indeed :)

Memória said...

I love making and consuming homemade caramel sauce! Yours look so delectable!

Gretchen Noelle said...

Coffee & caramel together sounds delicious!! Great job!

PheMom said...

Oh. Yum. That looks awesome!

Anonymous said...

That looks divine! And the caramel sauce? YUM.

Anonymous said...

Oh my god, that looks divine! I could drink homemade caramel by the gallon, and yours looks crazy good as does the cheesecake. That said, great nacro shots too!

Dragon said...

I just love the colour of this cheesecake! Great job on this month's challenge.

Snooky doodle said...

oh these look amazing :)

Meeta K. Wolff said...

well done! this looks too good with the caramel sauce!

Honey Pickles said...

Your cheesecake looks fantastic! I love the flavor combo of cafe au lait and caramel.

Unknown said...

Mmmm...caramel sauce, coffee, cheesecake...so good! This looks wonderful.

Clumbsy Cookie said...

Podia em vez do cafezinho coooooooooooooom leite que bebo ao pequeno almoço todos os dias, comer o teu cheesecake de cafezinho coooooooooooooooooo leite e com caramelo de bonus! Isso é quase um caramel machiato em cheesecake form. Estou rendida!

Cristian Borod said...

just love your blog

Holly said...

Yum! I was hoping to have time to make a coffee flavored cheesecake, but alas, I did not. This looks so delicious, I'm going to have to make one!

Nutmeg Nanny said...

Yummy! I have seen a couple people do this cafe au lait cheesecake and now I definitely want to try it! Everything about your cheesecake looked and sounded fantastic!

ice tea: sugar high said...

another cheese addict i see.. Love the photos!

Jenn said...

Yumm!

Pia said...

Great pictures!
I'm not really into sweets but I want that cheesecake.

Aparna Balasubramanian said...

Looks delicious, Suzana. Coffee and caramel are a great combination.

Unknown said...

Yum, looks delicious. I loved this version of the recipe (I think this is the caramel recipe I used too!) because the creamy coffee was just exquisite. If you make a fruity version, I think citrus is beautiful in this recipe too. Thanks for being a part of the challenge!

Jenny of JennyBakes