Cheese cakes extravaganza

Pina Colada and Chocolate cheese Cakes

My friend asked me couple of weeks ago, if I can bake her a special cream cheese cake.

She knew that I've been waiting for a special occasion to try Anna Olson's Caramelized Banana Cheese Cake with Caramel Topping, the cake requires at least 2 pounds of cream cheese, it's way too much for two persons to eat...It needs big group in a special occasion!!!

She teased me laughing why don't you make me that cake you've been waiting to try for some time; I need it for the 4Th of May - for my next book club gathering... and guess what??

The Daring Bakers April Challenge is a Cream Cheese Cake, hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge, leaving the option open for our own flavours and decorations. Since I was going to bake my friend the Caramelized Banana Cake next Sunday. I choose three new flavours for the cheesecake challenge, using a basic recipe then added my three flavours each with different crust.

A) For the dough, I used chocolate cookie dough and added dark chocolate to the basic recipe for a chocolate cheese cake flavour.

B) For the dough, I used ginger macadamia cookie dough, and for the cake I added fresh chopped mango, pineapples, coconuts and rum, and lime juice to get Pina Colada flavour

i didnt use the heavy cream.

C) for the dough I used graham crackers with nuts and added mixed frozen berries (from my garden)for a berry flavour I baked the cakes in ramekins, in a hot water bath...

the flavours were excellent, we had a hard time picking the one ...I did have some problem unmolding the berry cake, So I served the cake in the ramekin..

What I changed I used half of the amount of sugar, I wanted to taste the flavours I am adding , also I didn't use the heavy cream to balance with the ingredients I am using .


This is the original recipe from JennyAbbey'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
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
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.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!

Some variations from the recipe creator:**
Lavender-scented cheesecake w/ blueberries - heat the cup of heavy cream in the microwave or a saucepan until hot but not boiling. Add 2 tbsp of lavender flowers and stir. Let lavender steep in the cream for about 10-15 minutes, then strain the flowers out. Add strained cream to cheesecake batter as normal. Top with fresh blueberries, or make a quick stovetop blueberry sauce (splash of orange juice, blueberries, a little bit of sugar, and a dash of cinnamon - cook until berries burst, then cool)**

Cafe au lait cheesecake with caramel - 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 cream and use as normal. Top cheesecake with homemade caramel sauce (I usually find one on the food network website - just make sure it has heavy cream in it. You can use store-bought in a pinch, but the flavor is just not the same since its usually just sugar and corn syrup with no dairy).**

Tropical – add about a half cup of chopped macadamias to the crust, then top the cake with a mango-raspberry-mandarin orange puree.** Mexican Turtle - add a bar of melted dark chocolate (between 3 and 5 oz., to taste) to the batter, along with a teaspoon of cinnamon and a dash of cayenne pepper (about 1/8 tsp.). Top it with pecan halves and a homemade caramel sauce.**

Honey-cinnamon with port-pomegranate poached pears – replace 1/2 cup of the sugar with 1/2 cup of honey, add about a teaspoon or more (to taste) of cinnamon. Take 2 pears (any variety you like or whatever is in season), peeled and cored, and poach them in a boiling poaching liquid of port wine, pomegranate juice/seeds, a couple of "coins" of fresh ginger, a cinnamon stick, and about a 1/4 cup of sugar. Poach them until tender, then let cool. Strain the poaching liquid and simmer until reduced to a syrupy-glaze consistency, then cool. Thinly slice the cooled pears and fan them out atop the cooled cheesecake. Pour the cooled poaching syrup over the pears, and then sprinkle the top with chopped walnuts and fresh pomegranate seeds.


Note : for a dry bottom cheese cake, add a parchment paper over the bottom of a springform pan, bigger than the circle, after close the sides cut the extra papers from underneath, this will secure no water getting into your cake , also use a wide foil paper and higher than your pan, wrap it around the cake and tuck the extra around the edge to make a thick rim. Bake the crust 10 minutes before adding your cheese mixture.

My husband was not happy when I decorated the Pina Colada cake and left the chocolate; I had to give it a new face lift!!!!

Absolutely delicious.....