Bull's Eye Cheesecake

Time

Yield

10 to 12 servings

Ingredients

Ingredients

2 lbs. cream cheese, at room temperature
1/4 cup sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. almond extract
1/4 tsp. salt
4 lg. eggs
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp. powdered (not granulated) Instant coffee
2 tsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup Graham cracker crumbs

Instructions

Adjust rack 1/3 up from bottom of oven and preheat to 350°F. Carefully butter an 8-inch cheesecake pan all the way up to the rim and including inside rim itself or cake will stick to rim as it rises and will therefore not rise evenly. Will also need a large pan (for hot water) to place cake pan in while baking; the larger pan must not be as deep as the cheesecake pan, and it must be wide enough so it will not touch the sides of cake pan. Set aside.

In large bowl of electric mixer, beat cheese until soft and smooth, frequently scraping sides of bowl with rubber spatula and beaters themselves with finger to be sure cheese is uniformly smooth. Beat in sour cream, then vanilla and almond extracts, salt and then eggs, one at a time, scraping bowl occasionally and beating after each addition until incorporated. Remove bowl from mixer.

You will have 6 cups of mixture. Place half (3 cups) in another bowl that is large enough to allow you to stir in it. Add sugar to one bowl and brown sugar to the other. With rubber spatula for each bowl, stir ingredients for 1 minute until sugar has dissolved and mixtures have thinned out. To dark mixture, add instant coffee and through a fine strainer, the cocoa. Stir until coffee and cocoa have dissolved and there are no visible specks of either.

To form design: You have a scant 4 cups of each mixture. The two will be placed alternately in pan. Each segment will be a scant 1 cup of mixture. Use two 1-cup glass measuring cups, one for the dark and one for the light. It does not matter which color you use first. Pour either directly into middle of the prepared pan. It will spread out by itself to cover bottom of pan. Then pour same of the other mixture directly into middle of the first. This will spread out by itself also. Then use first color again, right in the middle. Continue until you have used all of both batters or four additions of each mixture.

Now, handle pan very carefully in order not to disturb design. Place cake pan in larger pan and pour hot water into larger pan about 1-1/2 inches deep. If the larger pan is aluminum, add about 1 tsp. cream of tartar to hot water to keep pan from discoloring. Carefully transfer to oven and bake 1-1/2 hours. Then remove cake pan from hot water and set aside to cool. During baking the top of the cake will darken to a rich honey color and will rise up to (and sometimes above) the top of the pan. During cooling it will sink down to its original level.

When bottom of cake has reached room temperature, the cake is ready to be unmolded. Dip bottom of pan in wide fry pan of boiling water for 10-15 seconds before unmolding. After dipping bottom of pan in water, dry pan, cover it with flat plate or board, carefully hold cake pan and board firmly together and turn them over. If cake doesn't slip out of pan easily, bang pan and platter or board against work surface. Remove pan. Sprinkle crumbs over cake (this will become bottom and crumbs will keep it from sticking to plate), cover with serving plate, turn it all over again, leaving cake right side up. Refrigerate.

Author's Comments

Will slice best of you dip a knife into a deep pitcher of very hot water before making each cut. The hotter the water, the better.

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