Black Forest Cherry Cheesecake (Adapted from CL)For the topping
2 cups pitted dark sweet cherries
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons cornstarch
For the crust
1 1/3 cups chocolate graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 large egg white
For the filling
16 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3 tablespoons Dutch-process cocoa powder
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 large eggs
4 ounces chopped bittersweet chocolate (small chunks)
Remaining ingredient
36 dark sweet cherries, pitted and halved
To prepare the topping
In a food processor, add cherries - process until smooth. In a small saucepan, stir together pureed cherries, sugar, lemon juice and cornstarch. Bring to a boil - cook, stirring, until thickened, about 1 minute. Remove and pour into a bowl - cover and place in the refrigerator to chill.
Preheat oven to 350
To prepare the crust
In a medium bowl, use a fork to toss together crumbs, sugar, butter and egg white until well combined. Scoop the mixture into a 10" springform pan coated with nonstick spray - press the mixture down to form an even layer across the bottom. Place in the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Remove and place on a wire rack - reduce oven temperature to 300.
To prepare the filling
In a large mixing bowl, add cream cheese - beat until smooth. Add sour cream and milk - mix until thoroughly combined. Add sugar, cocoa, vanilla and eggs - mix just until combined. Stir in small chocolate chunks. Pour the mixture over the crust in the springform pan.
Bake until the center is almost set - it should be a little jiggly in the center. Turn oven off and leave the cheesecake in the oven, with the door closed, to cool for 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool completely. Spread cherry topping over cheesecake. Top with cherry halves. Cover and place in the refrigerator to chill for at least 8 hours before serving.
Just found the recipe? Click here to see where we talked about it!
The flavor was to die for, whole fam swooned when they tasted this. I, however, had some difficulty baking this recipe. There were 2 elements in this recipe that I'd never encountered in cheesecake baking before: egg white in the crust and sweetened condensed milk in the filling. I had a hard time getting the crumb crust in place, it was very sticky, maybe it was the egg white?
ReplyDeleteThe texture of my cheesecake was very, very soft - too soft to cut w/out a nap in the freezer for a few hours, and then it was still hard to cut but much better than before freezer.
The dutch cocoa was a great touch with all that cream cheese, loved it.
I'm going to try my old tried and true base cheesecake recipe and include your flavors and see how it turns out.
MZ
MZ - If you click on the bottom link to where we talked about the recipe, I did note how to make the crust with butter. The egg white is simply used to hold things together to make a "lighter" crust. One thing to do to help with the stickiness issue is to just lay a piece of saran wrap on top of it and then smoosh it around with your hands. That works for us if the mixture doesn't cooperate!
ReplyDeleteWe had no problem cutting the cheesecake - perhaps it was a bit under-baked?
Hi Joe - I made the cherry topping posted here. Used Hershey's chocolate cheesecake recipe and a chocolate shortbread crust. The topping was great! I don't think I'll ever be as creative as you, but you will continue to inspire me to come out of my comfort zone. Thanks for posting your unique recipes. You can check out the post of my adaptation at my food blog. My photos are terrible partly because my kitchen is dark and partly because I need a new camera.
ReplyDeleteJudy - I'm glad you tried out the topping!
ReplyDelete