Good deeds done dirt cheap!

I was asked to bake a cheesecake for a friend of a friend's birthday. I said yes, of course. Boy, how freaking scary!!! But I did it, it turned out awesome, and They are picking it up tonight. I hope that they all enjoy it, and most importantly I hope that the friend has a great birthday!

I made a white chocolate raspberry cheesecake. Something I have never done before was bake with raspberries. No one I know really likes them, I really don't mind, so I was a bit nervous. And seeing that this was for someone I didn't know, that made it even more nerve racking for me!!



I guess you can tell that I finally was able to find a spring form pan in this town. Which is awesome. About time!! But go figure, I go to the grocery store later that night and find a bazillion for cheap. Ah well.. That's just my luck ;)
I'm super happy with the one that I bought, and it was glorious to finally be able to use one after so many cheesecakes with the pie plate, ya feel me?

I went ahead and made a little mini cheesecake for me in a cupcake tin. Holy smokes, it was delicious. I kinda wanna go to that dudes birthday party, so I can have a big ol' hunk of this cheesecake.



Look at how pretty!!!! It was right before I put it in the oven. I love the little heart shapes, SO cute!

White Chocolate Raspberry Overload Cheesecake

Crust:
2 cups chocolate graham cracker crumbs
1 stick unsalted butter, melted

Cheesecake:
3 8 oz packages cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 TB flour
2 ts pure vanilla
pinch of kosher salt
3 large eggs, room temperature
6 oz white chocolate - I used Ghirardelli
1/2 cup seedless raspberry preserves
1 pint fresh raspberries
2 TB half and half

Raspberry Mousse:
1 1/2 tsp gelatin
2 TB cold water
1/2 cup seedless raspberry preservers
2 TB sugar
1 cup heavy whipping cream


Pre heat oven to 325 degrees. Mix cookie crumbs with melted butter with a fork until moistened and combined. Press into bottom of 9 inch spring form pan. Wrap bottom of pan with heavy duty aluminum foil securely. Place on baking sheet with sides. Bake for 7 minutes. Set aside.

Cream the cream cheese until fluffy, add in the flour, vanilla, salt, and sugar. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Melt the white chocolate with the 2 tb of half and half in the microwave on high 70 seconds, stirring at 35 seconds. Stir into cheesecake mixture. Gently fold in half pint of raspberries. Pour onto crust. Mix 1/2 cup raspberry preserves with 1 tb water until syrupy.Drop by spoonfuls onto top of cheesecake, swirl with butter knife to make cute little patterns. Place on baking sheet, pour hot water into baking sheet to cover bottom of baking sheet about 1 inch. Bake for 50-60 minutes. Turn oven off, and let sit for an additional hour.

Take the remaining raspberries and top with 1 tb water, and 1 ts powdered sugar. Toss to coat berries with sugar, chill in refrigerator until ready to top chilled cheesecake.

To prepare the mousse, put 1 1/2 tb cold water in a microwave safe cup, sprinkle with 1 1/2 tsp gelatin. Let stand one minute. Then microwave on high 30 seconds until gelatin is dissolved. Combine with 1/2 cup raspberry preserves, and let chill 10 minutes. Beat the whip cream until soft peaks form, add in 2 tb sugar, then beat until stiff peaks form. Gently fold in raspberry mixture.

Now it's time to top the cheesecake! You can do it any way you want. I did mine by layering the mousse over the top of the cheesecake, putting the remaining raspberries on top and shaving white chocolate, and piping little rounds on the edges of the cheesecake with the remaining mousse I had left. I liked the way it looked.




There ya go!