Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake

Ben, Brandi, and I are visiting Grammy in WV. Ben is on a lower-carb diet, and mom bought 3 pounds of cream cheese. So Brandi helped me make a Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake that could use up a bunch of the cream cheese.

(It has a chocolate crust .  .  .)

Ingredients:

Chocolate Crust:

• 2 cups (about 9 ounces) finely ground chocolate graham cracker (or chocolate wafers)
  (I used about 1.5 sleeves of chocolate graham crackers) 
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1/8 teaspoon table salt
   

Raspberry Swirl

• 7 ounces fresh or frozen-but-thawed raspberries
  (I was low on raspberries, so added in a couple of cherries)
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Cheesecake

• 32 ounces very soft cream cheese
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs, room temperature

Instructions:

1. Heat oven to 350°F.
   (This temperature is for the crust, you will drop the temperature later.)
2. Tightly wrap base and sides of a 9-inch springform pan in foil.
3. Stir together cracker crumbs, melted butter, and sugar.
   (I pulsed them in the food processor I used to make the crumbs)
4.  Press crumb mixture firmly into bottom of pan and up the sides to about 1-inch from the top of the pan. 
5. Bake crust until it is set, about 10 minutes. Let it cool in the pan on a wire rack. 
6. Reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees.
      
7. Whirr together the raspberries and sugar in a food processor until smooth, probably about 30 seconds. 
8. Use a fine sieve to separate out solids. Discard solids.
       
9. Put the cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer, mix about 3 minutes on medium speed until fluffy.
10. Reduce speed to low, add in the 1 1/2 cups sugar in a slow, steady stream, while scraping down the bowl occasionally. 
11. Add in the salt and vanilla, mixing until well combined. 
12. Add int the eggs one at a time - mix each in until just combined. Scrape down the bowl as needed.
        
13. Pour 1/3 of cream cheese filling over crust.
14. Using a  zip-lock bag with a tiny corner snipped off, pipe rings of raspberry sauce all over first layer of filling.
15. Pour in another 1/3 of cream cheese filling over crust, pipe rings of raspberry sauce all over second layer of filling.
16. Pour in last 13 of filling. Pope spots of sauce around top layer of cake.
    (Or pipe rows of many straight lines.)
17. Use a toothpick or skewer to swirl the sauce and filling together decoratively.
      
18. Set cake pan inside a large, shallow roasting pan — I set mine in a large lasagne pan. 
19. Place pan in oven. 
20. Carefully pour boiling water into the pan until the water reaches halfway up the sides of the cake pan.
    (This helps cook the cheesecake more eavenly, and may significiantly reiucre cracking.)
21. Bake for about 60 to 65 minutes until the filling is set but still is slightly wobbly in center.
    (A toothpick inserted near the center should come out clean, without wet, thin batter on it when removed.)
22. Transfer cake pan to rack; let the cheesecake cool to room temperature, then refrigerate uncovered for at least 6 hours or overnight. 
23. Before removing cake from pan, run a thin knife around the edge of the cake.

Carole's Notes:

The cheesecake was delicious and pretty.  I admit, Brandi did the swirling.



The recipe was lightly adapted from https://smittenkitchen.com/2014/08/raspberry-swirl-cheesecake/