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Desserts, Redux
Date: May. 19th 2009
Category: Cakes, Cheesecakes, Cupcakes and Muffins, Daring Bakers
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I recently tried two desserts that I’d previously made for a second time and I wanted to blog about it, because they were both, if possible, even better the second time around.
The first dessert in quesion is Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake, which was the April 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge. I made the cheesecake but didn’t get to try it because I gifted it to some coworkers that helped me through a particularly busy period at work. After reading about how everyone loved the cheesecake, and loving it myself, I decided to try it again so that I could taste it.
In one word, this cheesecake is sublime.
It really and truly is the best cheesecake I have ever made. I followed the recipe without making any alterations (recipe below), and I made a very quick strawberry sauce using fresh strawberries, lemon juice, lemon zest, sugar and water.
I am not ashamed to say that I ate 97.6 per cent of the cheesecake on my own. The other 2.4 per cent is unaccounted for.
I suspect Mama Cream Puff.
The second dessert that I recently tried again is the Triple-Layer Lemon Cake that I made for my Zia Don’s 50th birthday late last year. When I made it for the birthday party, I had to increase the cake size and make other variations to the recipe so that it would feed a much larger group of people. This time around I made the cake as per the recipe and it was just delicious. The recipe is from Issue #63 of Fine Cooking, unfortunately, it’s no longer available free on the Fine Cooking site. However, you can sign up for a free trial and print a copy of the recipe.
I sometimes find that recipes don’t stand up to second and third attempts. In this case, these are two recipes that will likely stand up to the test of time.
Ciao!
Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake
For the crust:
2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs
1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted
2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extractFor the 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 cheesecakeDirections:
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!
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05/19/09 at 7:38 pm
Ooh, lovely! That cheesecake was pretty perfect, and the lemon cake looks incredible.
05/19/09 at 7:41 pm
Oh both these dessert look mouth watering. I m not a fan of cheesecake and still its tempting me like mad. The photos are amazing . I m craving something sweet now.
05/19/09 at 9:07 pm
They look beautiful. And I must confess a sigh of relief that you DID taste the cheesecake. Which I shall make.
05/19/09 at 11:10 pm
That Mama Cream Puff, tsk tsk!
I love the strawberry sauce on the cheesecake… diviiiine.
05/19/09 at 11:35 pm
That cheesecake and lemon cake look fantastic! Drool, drool…
Cheers,
Rosa
05/20/09 at 1:11 am
I could happily dive into that!
05/20/09 at 2:19 am
Wow… that cheesecake looks great!
Ciao.
05/20/09 at 3:20 am
I have book marked these recipes. They’d be great for a special occasion. At least with others around I won’t be tempted to eat them all myself!
05/20/09 at 4:34 am
Thank you for this posting I LOVED Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake it is the BEST!!! I will try the lemon cake soon since you recommend it. Thanks for visiting my blog and the nice comments you left.
05/20/09 at 8:18 am
I just made the Greenspan cheesecake not too long ago AGAIN. I love that cheesecake. Your cheesecake looks yummy. I wasn’t too crazy about the “infamous” cheesecake. Just goes to show that we all have different preferences and taste buds.
I wish I could have put some homemade strawberry topping on my latest one.
05/20/09 at 8:40 am
I agree, that cheesecake was amazing! The cake looks delicious too
05/20/09 at 11:26 am
Very close to the recipe I’ve always used, though i use honey oat biscuits (hobnobs) with chopped hazelnuts instead. And I don’t bother with a water bath
05/20/09 at 2:12 pm
I loved the cheesecake and you have me ready to make it again! I have to do a mini version this time…or else I will definitely eat it all!
I love anything with lemon, I’m bookmarking this recipe!
05/20/09 at 4:22 pm
I gotta try that cheesecake!!
05/20/09 at 7:12 pm
Oh my these are both awesome. I wish I could have a cut a piece of each right out of my computer screen.
05/21/09 at 12:43 am
These look so beautiful - and you’re so talented. I don’t think I’ve ever made anything that looked so beautiful!
05/21/09 at 1:18 am
This is why I hardly ever make cheesecake at home. I too eat pretty much all of it. Of course, now I want cheesecake.
05/21/09 at 6:32 am
I definitely agree with you about most recipes not standing up to a second try… that’s why I hardly ever make repeats. The few that do are incredible, and I have to agree that the DB cheesecake is one of them for me as well!
05/21/09 at 7:37 am
Both of these are WOW Ivonne! I can’t agree more that many recipes don’t turn out as well the second time around but I’d guess this cheese cake would.
05/21/09 at 1:47 pm
Well, I can understand why you would want to make that lovely cheesecake again Ivonne… But eating it totally yourself…
Haha… You’re absolutely right though. I will definitely be making it again too.
I find that making a lot of recipes for the 2nd time for some reason can be very disappointing…
05/21/09 at 4:22 pm
[…] Strawberry Cheesecake and Triple Layer Lemon Cake by Ivonne from Cream Puffs in Venice […]
05/22/09 at 12:38 am
slurp e arci rislurp….è davvero da peccatori di gola ;-))
Ti scrivo in italiano perchè ho visto un commento da Simona…e quindi presumo che tu mi capisca, ciao!
05/22/09 at 10:04 am
They both look wonderful, Ivonne. I especially love the lemon cake, though. I may just have to sign up for a trial for that recipe alone. It looks divine!
05/22/09 at 4:50 pm
oh lordy———- you just HAD to do that to me didn’t you. I could eat both of those totally by myself. Like, now.
Hugs!
05/22/09 at 6:32 pm
“Sublime” is an excellent word for the cheesecake
j
05/22/09 at 6:32 pm
I think I’ve been convinced I really need to give that cheesecake a try, everyone has been raving about it!
05/23/09 at 4:11 am
That cheesecake looks so smooth and creamy, I do bet that it is sublime! And lucky co-workers and lucky Mama Cream Puff!
That lemon cake is gorgeous! And who doesn’t love lemon? And who doesn’t love a triple layer cake, for that matter?
05/23/09 at 8:35 am
[…] fill the cake layers, I had some lemon curd leftover from my Triple-Layer Lemon Cake so I mixed that with some freshly whipped cream. For the bottom layer of the cake, I added sliced […]
05/23/09 at 12:20 pm
Your cakes look absolutely delightful and sinfully delicious. I have them on my must bake list…..grazie. I subscribe to your blog feed and hope you visit me too sometime. Ciao amica! bella
05/25/09 at 3:05 am
The Triple-Layer Lemon Cake decorations look beautiful, I love using the silver sugar beads. Wish I had coworkers like you!
06/4/09 at 11:21 am
Yum. I stopped by again to check out your latest posts, and lo and behold, another cheesecake!
I love your recent beautiful cakes as well. I have some marshmallow fondant sitting on my counter that I’m experimenting with for the first time. Wish me luck!!