Vampire Gran's Kitchen

Mascarpone Cheesecake topped with fresh blueberries, raspberries and candied lemon zest

I realized that I get a lot of hits on this blog from people looking for cheesecake.  I have another posting with pictures of individual cheese cake but with no recipe.  Let me share my favorite basic cheesecake recipe with you.  Everyone loves it.

BASIC MASCARPONE CHEESECAKE

2 pounds cream cheese, room temperature

1 cup mascarpone

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

pinch of salt

YOU CAN ADD ANY FLAVOUR YOU WANT.  THE CHEESCAKE IN THE PICTURE HAS 4 TBSP LEMON JUICE AND THE ZEST OF TWO LEMONS ADDED TO IT.

CRUST

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1 cup sugar

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Butter or spray with non stick spray 2 - 7 inch cake pans with 2 inch sides or 1 – 10 inch pan with 2 inch sides.  If you are using a spring form pan (which I do not like to use) be sure to double wrap the bottom and side with heavy duty aluminum foil.

Combine crust ingredients in small bowl, mix well.  Press into bottom only of prepared pan.  Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and set on cooling rack.  Prepare cheesecake batter.

Cream together cream cheese and mascarpone in a food processor or using an electric mixture.  Beat in sugar until smooth.  Beat in eggs and salt.  Add any flavoring at this point.  Pour into pans on top of pre baked crust.  You are going to bake the cheesecake in a water bath.  Take a pan larger than your cheesecake pan ( a roasting pan works well) and place the cheesecake pan inside.  Add water to the large pan until it reaches half way up the cheesecake pan.  Place in a 220 degree oven and bake for 2 hours.  Cheesecake is done when you giggle the pan and it moves as a solid mass.  Cool on rack until it is cool enough to place in the refrigerator.  Cover with plastic wrap when it has cooled down enough to not sweat the plastic.  Refrigerate overnight.

Remove cheesecake from refrigerator.  Cover a dinner plate with plastic wrap, make sure it is pulled taut.  Turn on your gas or electric burner.  Warm the bottom of the pan to warm the cheesecake slightly so it will release from the pan.  It may take several turns at the burner until it reaches this point.  Make sure you don’t just sit the pan on the burner.  Hold it over the heat, close enough so it will warm the pan.  I set my pan on the electric burner and spin it slowly, always keep it in motion.  Do this if you are comfortable with this method.  Place plastic covered plate on top of cake pan and invert.  The cake should slide out of the pan.  If it does not, go back and heat again.  If you have a blow torch, you can skip the stove method and just heat the pan bottom after you have inverted it onto the plastic covered plate.  Place serving plate on top of crust and turn back to upright position.  If the plate sticks to the top of the cheesecake, remove the plate from the plastic and peel the plastic off the cake. 

I hope you will try this recipe.  If you have any questions, please feel free to use the comments box.  Bon Appetit!