FoodMayhem

Being a fan of all things cheesecake, I was excited by the cheesecake “throwdown” a few weeks ago and made an Apple Caramel Cheesecake inspired by Flay’s entry. However, having a bit of cream cheese left over from the massive amount we purchased at Costco, I’m making a new cheesecake inspired by the competition, Junior’s, and their entry the Devil’s Food Cheesecake.

Some may ask why on earth I didn’t just travel over to Junior’s, with two of their locations being within 20 minutes of my home, so let me answer: because I do not like Junior’s cheesecake! I have tried their cakes on at least four occasions and am less than impressed. They taste bland, overly sweet, too dry, and generally a day old. So rather than go overpay for one of their crappy cakes, I made my own, and besides, I prefer vanilla over chocolate.

This recipe basically requires three nine-inch cake pans on hand, I have two and a spring form, which works fine.

I used a Basic Cheesecake Recipe:

• 1 pound cream cheese (two 8oz blocks), softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 pint sour cream
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• zest of one lemon, finely minced

Cream cream cheese and sugar, then add sour cream, then one egg at a time, followed by lemon and vanilla. Scrape down sides, mix again and bake in a 9-inch cake pan (with NO CRUST) in a waterbath at 325 degrees F for 50-60 minutes– until center is jello-like and the outside is firm. Then let stand in over for another hour before chilling over night.

And then prepared a basic Yellow Layer Cake recipe (from About.com):

• 2 cups all-purpose flour, stirred before measuring
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Sift flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl set aside. Cream sugar and butter in a large bowl, until light and fluffy, then beat in one egg at a time. Mix in half the flour mixture followed by half of the milk. Add vanilla. Mix until blended; add remaining flour and milk and beat until smooth. Fill two greased and floured 9-inch cake pans. Bake at 375° for 25 to 35 minutes, until toothpick in center comes out clean.

The next day, I whipped up some Butter Cream Icing (from Wilton):

• 1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract (clear is preferable)
• 4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar (approx. 1 lb.)
• 2 tbsp. whole milk
• 2 tbsp. light corn syrup

Cream butter and shortening with electric mixer. Add vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often throughout whole process! When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk and beat at medium speed for several minutes until light and fluffy. This is enough icing to do a thin layer– perfect for us. If you want a heavier layer (i.e. crumb coat and top coat) you’ll need to increase the icing recipe by 50% or 100%.

Then it was time to Assemble the Cake:

1. Put one of the layer cakes onto a turntable over some wax paper, frost top with about 1/2 cup of icing, keeping center thinner than towards edge.
2. Dip chilled cheesecake in warm water, then run a knife around the outside edge. Finally set over stove top burner for about 30 seconds on high– handle with a towel afterward. Carefully invert over frosted layer cake and tap bottom to release. If you’re incredibly lucky it will release properly.
3. Frost top of cheesecake with about 1/2 cup of icing, then invert last layer cake on top, with bottom facing up. Do not frost top at this point.
4. Refrigerate for about 20-30 minutes until cheesecake and icing-filling is stiff.
5. Finish frosting the entire cake– start with the sides working upwards in swirls creating peaks at top of sides. Then move to the top and frost outwards.
6. Chill again before serving in large, luscious slices!

Enjoy. We did. See the rest of the pictures in the Flickr set.