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[donotprint]Today’s recipe is a guest post from the fabulous Naomi of the blog, Bakers Royale. Naomi and I became acquainted on twitter and with our mutual love of baking, blogging and tweeting, we became immediate friends!
If you have never visited Bakers Royale, definitely check it out, it’s full of amazing recipes, writing and photos. She totally rocks out with a point and shoot camera with some stunning results! Needless to say, I was thrilled when she agreed to guest post while I am on a weekend hiatus. She told me her plans were to post a Lemon Cheesecake with a Blackberry Balsamic Reduction and I knew my readers would be just as excited as I am about Naomi and this recipe.
Seriously check out her blog and follow her on twitter…you can thank me for leading you to her later! Naomi…thanks so much to your whipping up this delish creation for My Baking Addiction!!! Here is Naomi…
When Jamie emailed and asked if I would like to guest post in her absence this weekend, I was ecstatic. What she read a nano second later was “Sure, I would love to”. What she missed was the fist pumping and toe tapping. Like most of you I am a long time reader of My Baking Addiction, so needless to say I’m excited and honored to guest post.
I love it when everything synchronizes. As it turns out, this guest post is also the perfect preamble for my foray into fruit starring desserts. I have been forced by someone, no names will be mentioned lest I want to slum it on the sofa, to take a break from my recent run of toothaching-ly sweet confections.
My first starring fruit: blackberries reduced in balsamic vinegar. As many of you know, using balsamic as reduction agent yields a sweet flavor with a hint of tanginess. That is the exact flavor I wanted to offset the sweetened condensed milk in this cheesecake recipe. Add some lemon to smooth out the dairy from the cream cheese and you have yourself a must make cheesecake that is finely tuned and balanced.
If the sweetened condensed milk seems like an odd choice to you (it did to me at first as well) you will discover that it’s the perfect ingredient to free your cheesecake of those unsightly cracks and sinkholes, It also solves the problem of ever having a dry textured cake. [/donotprint]
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Lemon Cheesecake with Blackberry Balsamic Reduction
Getting Ready
Heat oven to 325 degrees. Prepare springform: Cover removable bottom with foil. Click sides into place and fold excess foil up the sides. Prepare waterbath: Place kitchen towel on bottom of a roasting pan or cake pan. Place one 9 inch springform in the pan to determine the water level. The water needs to be two thirds the height of the springform. Bring determined water amount to boil while the making the cheesecake.
Crust
1 1/2 cup crushed graham cracker
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
7 tablespoon unsalted butter(melted)
1. Combine graham cracker crumbs with sugar.
2. Add melted butter and blend until combined.
3. Press into pan. Set aside.
Lemon Cheesecake
(4) 8oz cream cheese, softened
1 14 oz. sweetened condensed milk
4 eggs
¼ cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
Directions
1. Beat cream cheese until light and fluffy.
2. Gradually add sweetened condensed milk and mix until smooth.
3. Add egg in one at a time, making sure to completely incorporate each egg before adding the next.
4. Add in lemon juice, vanilla and lemon zest, mix until combined.
5. Pour into prepared springform pan.
6. Bake at 325 degrees F or 50-55 minutes or until sides are set and center is just a bit jiggly when pan is tapped. The center will firm up as it cools from the permeating heat.
5. After five minutes of cooling run you’re a knife around the edge of the pan to release the cheesecake from the sides of the pan. This will further prevent any cracks that may occur.
Balsamic Blackberry Reduction Sauce
1 ½ cups fresh or frozen blackberries
1 cup water
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon turbinado sugar
3 tablespoon honey
Pinch of salt
1. In a heavy-bottom saucepan over high heat, combine blackberries and water. Macerate the berries with a potato masher or a roux whisk. Bring to a boil. Push mixture through a fine mesh sieve. Disgard solids.
2. Pour liquid back into saucepan and add balsamic, sugar and pinch of salt. Bring to a hard boil for 5minutes. Reduce heat to a soft boil and add honey. Continue on a soft boil, while stirring continuously until the sauce is reduced by half or until the sauce coats the back of a spoon.
3. Let cool before pouring over cheesecake.
Thanks so much for this recipe! I had never made a cheesecake before and had been looking for a recipe that seemed sufficiently tangy. I bookmarked this one a couple of months ago and finally made it on Sunday. It turned out great, even without the blackberry coulis. Had to improvise a little with a 10-inch springform sitting in a shallow roasting pan, but it kept it from cracking and it looked as fabulous as it tasted. I took most of it to work on Monday and word spread so fast that I’m still hearing complaints from people who didn’t get to have any. Will definitely make it again!
can you please clarify for me the amount of cream cheese to use? I see (4) 8 oz – cream cheese – so is it 8 oz or 32 oz?
probably a silly question if you’ve made cheesecake before given the large discrepancy between the 2 amounts (probably on obvious answer) but I’ve never made anything like this before so I am sitting in the clueless isle :)
Thanks…it sounds amazing and my husband loves lemon (while I am always making things chocolate) so this is for him!!
Jennifer-
So sorry for the confusion. You are using 4 – 8oz bricks of cream cheese; thus, using 32 oz. Good luck and have a great day!
-Jamie
I love baking and every weekend I make something for my family. I am SO glad that I came across your blog and can hardly wait to try this delicious recipe :) Will be back to let you know how it goes ;)