Monday, April 27, 2009

Key Lime Cheesecake -- DB's

Lime Cheesecake
Ian and I have been waiting to post this for quite a long time now; it's the Birthday Cake that I made for him... which also doubles as the Daring Bakers Challenge this month. As you probably know by now Ian looooves citrus, making this his new favourite dessert.

I once made a key lime pie with an Oreo crust and candied limes on the top so I knew this combination would turn out great. I just switched out the recipe for key lime cheesecake then baked them in my mini springform pans and they tasted so creamy and delicious. And yes, this was the dessert that I was making when the thumb injury occurred. Watch your fingers around a mandolin…

I heard that cheesecake could be made with a few less calories so I used two regular bars of cream cheese and one low fat bar. I also switched the full fat cream for 15% and I don’t think anyone knew. It tasted like it was a heart attack waiting to happen, just as a cheesecake should.

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:

crust:
2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs
1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted
2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
** I substituted 2-1/2 cups of Oreo crumbs with 1/2 stick of butter for the crust.

cheesecake:
3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature
1 cup / 210 g sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)
1 tbsp liqueur, optional, but choose what will work well with your cheesecake
**Key lime - add zest from one lime to sugar before mixing with cream cheese. Substitute lemon juice, alcohol, and vanilla with key lime juice.



DIRECTIONS:
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. 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.

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.

23 comments:

MissBliss said...

i love the top of this cake... how gorgeous!!! sorry to hear about the injury... what we do for kitchen triumphs...

Coco Bean said...

So true Miss Bliss, what we do for culinary triumphs and shoes eh!

ice tea: sugar high said...

hahhaha.. a cheecake can feels like a heart attack waiting to happen. Sorry to hear about the injury. I have had some injuries from a mandolin slicer too. Love it how you combine key lime with oreo crust. yumm

Ian said...

I loved eating it :D
As a matter of fact, I loved eating both that Christie made for me... nomnomnom

Simones Kitchen said...

I think your cheesecake looks absolutely beautiful Christie. I love all the lemonslices on top, that make it look really elegant! Great job!

Audax said...

A birthday cake and the DBers challenge ain't you lucky two for the price of one. Beautiful picture of a key lemon cheesecake … I never thought of a cheesecake as a heart attack waiting lurking stalking anticipating... it is its main attraction I think yes. Hope the injury is better... DBers is all about going outside you comfort zone consider yourself initiated. Cheers yours from Australia Audax

Hilary said...

Good plan, cheesecake is one place where I think you can lighten it up a bit and no one will know the difference. It looks so good - but more like an orange cheesecake than lime? What's on the top?

CookiePie said...

What a gorgeous cake!!! Love the flavor too.

Liliana said...

Your cheesecake looks lovely! What a great birthday cake. I also love citrus - great idea for the topping.

Sorry to hear about your thumb injury - I have had near misses when using the mandolin. The things we do for the love of baking and cooking!

Junie Moon said...

What a great idea to use the challenge for a birthday treat. I love your interpretation of the recipe as well as the yummy end result. The citrus slices look very festive on top of the cake.

Suzana said...

I love the citrus variation, nicely done. And the top is stunning! Perfect indeed for a special day. :)

Chantal said...

its so beautiful!

Lauren said...

Mmm, your cheesecake looks amazing!! I love the topping =D.

Anonymous said...

A perfect looking cheesecake indeed! I love that beauty. I bet it tasted really really yummy too.

creampuff said...

Oooooooh! That sounds like a painful thumb injury. The cheesecake, I must say, looks GORGEOUS! My favourite cheesecake is actually Nigella's lime cheesecake with a chocolate chip cookie crust so I totally understand your key lime/choc crust love!

Coco Bean said...

Thank you everyone, I am in the middle of some brutal exams but I will respond to everyone on Thursday when they are finally all over! Thanks again DB's

The Irreverent Cook said...

Ooo, that looks sooo pretty! Nicely done =D

Nikki said...

What utter gorgeousness! And its citrussssy tooo.. just my kind of cheesecake!

Coco Bean said...

Iced tea: I saw yours... I heart your cookies and cream cake! Thanks for the thumb love, it feels better.

Junglefrog: Thanks!

Audax: Cheers Austraian blogger friend, I agree, it was the main attraction but I try not to eat it too often.

Hilary: The lime lost it's colour when I boiled them, I think I was more worried about my thumb at the time and I totally forgot about the lime slices!

CookiePie:Thanks, it was fun!

Liliana: You are very lucky that you still have all of your thumb, I'm jealous. Thanks for the kind words.

Junie Moon: He he, thanks!

Creampuff: which book? I'm going to check it out. Thanks

The Irreverent Cook: Thank you =)

Nikki: I don't think I liked citrus until Ian came along, now it's all we eat. The things we do for love eh! Thanks for the comment

Anonymous said...

I went with citrus, too! Love the garnish!

Sweet as Coco said...

Wow this looks amazing! Thanks for the nice comments. ;) Your blog is beautiful (i.e. photos) and I'm getting hungry looking at all these desserts! mmmm

Unknown said...

This looks gorgeous! Thanks for being a part of the April Daring Baker's Challenge!

Jenny of JennyBakes

Ian said...

Awww shucks thanks. I havent had much time to look at all the comments lately with my tremendously busy schedule, but its easing up now. Im so happy that so many people like the photos, I may not have been on much lately, but I spend every free minute reading and planning the next photos in order to do justice to Christie's wonderful cooking and baking.