Raspberry Cheesecake
Raspberry cheesecake–does the idea of making one from scratch scare you to death? Don’t let it! It’s one of the easiest, richest, make-someone-happiest desserts there is. Let me show you how.
Cheesecake should be an everyday event. If you don’t want to be able to zip your pants.
Sure it’s not low calorie, but sometimes you need a slice in your life and nothing from the store’s frozen food or bakery departments is ever the same.
It’s guaranteed to make someone you love happy. Make them one for no reason–or hey–make yourself one for no reason.
You can try a line like this:
“Hey honey! It’s garbage day! I made you a cheesecake.”
“Guess what?! We’re being audited. I made you a cheesecake.”
See where I’m going with this? If you’re smart, you’ll use this recipe for leverage. It’s that good. Not overly sweet, and just the right balance of tart from the raspberry sauce and richness from the cake itself.
Don’t want it to crack? When time’s up, leave it in the oven, turn off the heat, and crack the oven door just a couple of inches and allow the cake to cool there for a half hour or so before you take it out of the oven. A cake that cools slowly won’t crack.
(And if it does crack, who gives a flying flip? It’s still gonna taste the same!)
If you are really brave you can wrap your springform pan (you have to have one to make this work) with foil along the bottom and place the pan in a larger baking dish–fill with very hot water about halfway up the sides of the springform pan for even baking and a lighter texture. But beware–wrap it too loosely and you’ll have a wet cheesecake. If you don’t want to take the risk, don’t worry about it. It will do fine without the water.
There are also nuts in the crust. Unless you are allergic or just hate them, try to leave them in. They add a huge flavor boost, and your master plan to use this raspberry cheesecake as a bargaining tool will be even better. I hope you enjoy it.
Light and Fluffy Cheesecake with Raspberry Sauce
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 1 1/2 cups finely chopped graham crackers
- 1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon optional
- 1/2 cup butter melted
For the filling:
- 3 8- ounce packages cream cheese softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/4 cup milk
- 3 eggs at room temperature
For the sauce:
- 3 cups frozen raspberries thawed or still frozen
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
Instructions
Make the crust:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- In a medium bowl mix the finely ground graham crackers, nuts, sugar, cinnamon and melted butter.
- Press the mix into the bottom and about 3/4 of the way up the sides of the springform pan. A flat bottomed measuring cup does a good job of pressing the crust evenly in the corners.
- In a large bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or with your hand mixer, beat the cream cheese, sugar, flour, vanilla, milk and eggs until thoroughly combined.
- Pour into the crust and bake at 375 for 40-45 minutes. Cool as instructed above.
Make the sauce:
- While the cake cooks, add the raspberries to a medium saucepan and bring them to a low boil over medium heat. Add the sugar and cornstarch and cook until the liquid thickens--8-10 minutes or so or until it coats the back of a spoon.
- Cool slightly, then press the mixture through a fine sieve to remove the seeds.
- Save the strained sauce for topping your cheesecake. Any fruit of your choice can be used, or you can use a canned fruit too.
I made this an, after reading the reviews, I was anticipating a great result. However, during baking I noticed the spring-form pan was leaking liquid? The oven was smoking and the bottom of the oven was wet. I should also mention here that the crust only came up about 1/2″ not the 3/4″ as specified in the recipe. Also, I did not surround the outside with aluminum foil. So……I continued to bake for the specified time. My cake came out dry. What did I do wrong?
Hey Martha, You know, it’s so hard for me to tell you exactly what happened since I wasn’t there but I can make some guesses. If liquid was leaking from your pan: 1) was the bottom of your springform pan lined up exactly as it needed to be inside the ring? If it’s off even a tad, there won’t be a tight seal and something could leak. Was the leaking liquid white like cream cheese or was it butter? If your oven was smoking that makes me think that the butter in the crust leaked out. Are you using a good quality springform pan? I’d bet my right leg your bottom wasn’t in it correctly. 2) For the crust height: 1/2 way or 3/4 of the way makes no difference so don’t worry about that. 3) My final guess and this is probably the major issue–is that you just plain old baked it too long for your oven. Did you know that oven temperatures can vary by as much as 50 degrees hotter or cooler? I use a separate thermometer in my oven to make sure that 350 is actually 350 or 400 is actually 400. Your 350 might actually be 400 or 425. If you don’t bake a lot you’ll learn quickly that recipe cook times must always be adjusted based on your oven, your stove, your tools. Always watch the food–not the time–for the best results. Your cheesecake was done when it was lightly golden and had a slight jiggle (not a watery sloshing, but a gentle jiggle) in the center. Maybe try it again if you feel up to it. That’s how we learn and get better. –Rachel
I made this recipe for Thanksgiving but I couldn’t serve it. The recipe is so vague, I had to look up another recipe in order to figure out how long to blind bake the crust. It didn’t tell me whether I was supposed to grease the pan or not. I ended up greasing it and the whole cake fell. The cheesecake itself was really bland, not enough vanilla flavor and needed some salt. Overall, don’t use this recipe if you have never made a cheesecake. Find a recipe with more instructions.
Hi Jen,
I’m sorry you feel that the cheesecake didn’t work out and that the instructions were vague. But I would like to point out that recipe instructions are formulated to tell you what to do–not what not to do–and I’m very particular about what I write. There’s enough butter in the crust that you don’t need to add more to the pan, and there was no need to blind bake the crust or I would have given that instruction. If I had wanted you to do those things, I would have said so. You took that upon yourself, and I’m sorry. I’ve eaten a lot of cheesecakes in my life and this one has always been a winner with others who have had it. –Rachel
This recipe was bomb! Great with milk.
You just killed me with this one! That’s it, I have to make it this weekend!
Oh yes girl–it’s sooooo good!!! But not friendly to the blood sugar I’m sure!
Looks fantastic! Be still my cheesecake loving heart!
Kathi
I will make it one of my top priorities to give this one a go this weekend. I’m a sucker for a good cheese cake and the way that you have presented this its just lovely.
Let me know how it turns out Scott!
It’s baked, it’s cooling in the oven, can I refrigerate it for later?
Yes Scott. Once it is cool enough, wrap it in plastic wrap and chill it a few hours so it can set.let me know how you like it. If I didn’t mention chilling it I had better add that to the recipe. Thanks!
I think it came out rather well, I really enjoyed it.
http://bbqlikeitshot.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/fluffy_cheesecake_3195.jpg
I used Arnott’s Milk Chocolate Digestive biscuits as the base (yum)! And I used a locally produced Raspberry & Boysenberry Compote by The Dollop Kitchen for the sauce.
This was a really easy to follow recipe – who knew I would end up baking deserts 😉
It looks just like mine Scott! I’m glad it worked out for you–and if I can get you out of your box and doing something different, that’s a success. The you may have to change your name to BBQ (and Bake) Like It’s Hot! LOL.
Cheesecake is my very favorite dessert and I think raspberry sauce makes it even better! Thanks for sharing this, I can’t wait to try it 🙂
Thanks Anne! I love cheesecake too, but I don’t like it too sweet and this one is perfect! I hope you get a chance to try it.