This past weekend was my brother's birthday. Hold the phone. Have I ever told you that I cannot, for the life of me, figure out when to use "past" and when to use "passed"? I mean I get it like, "I passed the test." But when you say like, we walked past/passed something... or this past/passed weekend... I dunno. It confuses me. This is not to say that I haven't tried, because, believe me, I have and have had it explained to me maybe like 49.3547 times.
Anyway, I decided to bake him a cheesecake. Before I give you the recipe, let's talk cheesecake. It's one of those finicky things that are actually kind of difficult to bake. Why? Because one thing wrong and you've got yourself a 1)cracked 2)sunken 3)overcooked or 4)undercooked cheesecake. So let me give you a few pointers:
1) Grease your pan well. This helps to prevent cracking because as the cheesecake cools, it pulls away from the pan and if it isn't greased, it'll crack.
2) Don't over beat the cream cheese. Over beating introduces air into the cheese and these bubbles cause the cheesecake to crack when baking.
3) Don't over cook the cheesecake. Overcooking it can dry out the cheesecake causing it to, yes, crack.
4) DO cook the cheesecake in a water bath. The water allows the cheesecake to cook uniformly. This means that the insides and outsides cook at the same time preventing the 3" diameter uncooked circle in the middle of the cheesecake causing it to sink. Also, it creates a nice humid environment preventing the cake from drying out and, yes, cracking.
5) Allow your cheesecake to cool for at least 6 hours in the fridge, in addition to cooling in the oven, before serving. Do not cover it! Moisture will collect on the lid/plastic/foil/whatever you covered it with.
6) If you follow all the directions above and it STILL cracks, then don't worry. Here's what you do. Mix 1 cup sour cream, 2 tbsp sugar, and 1 tsp vanilla extract. Spread it uniformly across the cheesecake and rebake at 325 for 10 minutes. Voila! Problem solved.
Okay, that being said, here's the recipe I used.
For the Heart:
Just prior to serving, cut out a heart in a napkin, place it across the cheesecake and used a sifter to sift unsweetened cocoa powder onto the cheesecake forming the heart. CAREFULLY, lift the napkin. Did you spill some cocoa powder? No worries, just cover the entire cake with cocoa powder and redo the heart with powdered sugar! Also, you can dampen the napkin slightly to catch the extra cocoa powder so it doesn't spill off the napkin when you lift it.
