Holiday season is almost here and I'm sure you'll need some cake recipes for your parties, right? I don't usually bake any fancy cakes with fillings and frosting and all those accessories that make it look amazing. This time though I decided to try some higher level baking. Last weekend I tried this cheesecake and even though it was my first cheesecake ever, it came out perfect!
Ever since summer ended I realized how our diet changed. From fruits, vegetables, and light summer soups we shifted more toward hearty meals and most importantly - cakes. Whole summer long my Joe would make fun of me because I was always craving for something sweet (a yearlong condition for me) but he didn't really need anything like that. He was all set with a watermelon:) Then October and November came and we included bakery shop stops to our regular after work walks. Surprisingly, it was not me who had to have a cake. It was Joe.
The thing is, I'm not a fan of bakery shops' cakes. They seem to be homemade but they are not. They are either way too sweet or way too artificially tasting. So in favor of saving $$ and improving our culinary experience I decided to bake a cake. A cheesecake. My first one ever.
I searched Internet, of course, to find the right recipe. I found MANY cheesecakes, but since I had blueberries sitting in the fridge, I narrowed the search to blueberry cheesecake. And I found this one. It took little more work then I usually invest into baking but it was well worth it. This cake tastes delicious and looks absolutely stunning - perfect addition to your Thanksgiving table, isn't it?
Ingredients:
Base dough:
7 oz (200 g) of any kind of plain sweet crackers (I used butter cookies, but it really can be any type of sweet crackers you like)
3.5 oz (100 g) of butter
3 tablespoons of cane sugar
Mascarpone filling:
17.5 oz (500 g) of mascarpone (it is very important NOT to use cream cheese instead, mascarpone makes the cake much tastier)
1/2 cup of fine castor sugar
1 cup of sour cream
1 tablespoon of grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
4 eggs
1 tablespoon of all purpose flour or corn starch
8 oz (250 g) of fresh blueberries
Cream topping:
1 cup of heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon of fine castor sugar
3.5 oz (100 g) of blueberries
Directions:
First step is to make the base dough. I found butter cookies in the store but you can use whatever plain sweet crackers you like. Put them into blender and mix until they are all in pieces. Then melt butter and mix with the crackers, and add sugar if needed (depending on the sweetness of your crackers).
Now take your baking dish (I used 9 in diameter round pie baking dish) and put the cracker mixture on the bottom and sides of it. Depending on your dish you might need to butter it before using, but it was not necessary for mine. Press the dough firmly to form a consistent layer on the entire bottom and sides. When done, put it into the oven preheated to 350 F and bake for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile you can start working on the mascarpone filling. Mix mascarpone with sugar, add lemon zest and lemon juice. Add eggs, one egg at a time. I was mixing in a stand mixer so I just kept it on and was adding ingredients continuously. Finally add sour cream, flour (or corn starch), and blueberries, mix with spatula this time and your filling is ready. Pour it into the baking dish over the base dough and bake in the formerly preheated oven (350 F) for 60 to 75 minutes. My cheesecake rose quite a lot when it was in the oven, but it should fall down a bit once it starts cooling, which will make space for the cream topping.
Before starting with the topping, make sure the cake had enough time to cool down. Best practice is to turn off the oven once done, open the door and keep the cheesecake in it to cool down slowly for 1-2 hours, then when cold, put into the fridge for 2-4 hours.
When the cake's all ready for the cream topping, take your heavy whipping cream out of the fridge. Add sugar and mix it for 1-2 minutes on high speed until nice whip cream forms. Don't over do it though (2 minutes really should be enough), you don't want to make yourself some butter.
And now the final steps - put the cream on top of the cake and decorate with fresh blueberries.
Congratulations, you made it through the hours of prepping, baking, and cooling and your delicious cheesecake is ready. Let the party start!
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