TBB: 4th July Cheesecake - US Independence Day

After being sick for 2 weeks and eating nothing except plain white rice porridge (ok.. with a bit of pickled radish and maggie seasoning + soya sauce), I really wanted to eat something sweet..  and the photo in the book looked so pretty.

I baked on Friday night... 

I figured I'll used the red food coloring this time round since it's only a tiny flat 10" round cake. :)  - What can I say... this is the best red velvet cake texture I have tasted so far.. so moist and soft and light!!  Ok, if red velvet taste like this, then I can eat the whole bottle of red food coloring..lol!  This cake is different in texture from the other rose red velvet cake.  I really like this cake texture.  

Just out of the oven so nice and flat. :) 

Wrapped it up and refrigerate for tomorrow. 

I put a layer of parchment paper on top, you will find out why later. :)

Made the cheesecake as per recipe. Juice of 1 lemon is slightly more than the required in recipe ..so I just throw in all the juice into the batter. No harm I figured.  Because the sour cream I used was not the liquid type..I had to beat a considerably longer time towards the end for the sour cream to be fully incorporated into the batter.  I was worried if it will affect the cheesecake later, but it didn't. Oh..ya.. I didn't notice I was supposed to use the whisk attachment until my cheesecake was done! :p 

Just out of the oven.. all jiggly.  

(Please ignore the cough mixtures in the background.  

Not all mine... ok..the last 3 bottles mine..the rest is not..)

Saturday AM 

The top layer came off with the parchment..:)

I don't need to do anything...

The cheesecake shrank after resting a night in the fridge.

Oh..the red velvet is slightly bigger than the cheesecake. 

Have to trim the red velvet.

I used strawberry jam to 'glue' the 2 cakes together instead of raspberry preserves.

I forgot to take photos of White Chocolate Cream Cheese frosting..but you can see the back - right - the handheld blender and empty bowl used to  make frosting.  I find the frosting a bit sweet and too rich, worried that it will be too rich so I used it to crumb coat the sides only.  

The red velvet cake is very crumbly..so when I tried to crumb coat, the crumbs were merciless - all over.. but I noticed it created a nice gradient color.. so I just left it as it is.  I used my blueberry sauce in the fridge as topping..and a bit on the sides to add the 3 layer color effect.  Turned out looking better than I expected. :)  Back in the fridge it went...

Saturday PM

I brought my son out as usual on Saturday..and went supermarket to buy the blueberries. So glad that the blueberries were on sale - 4 packs for $9.90 (125g per pack).  Got home and prepared the glaze. 

I wanted the blueberries to be as fresh as possible with a crunch (since I have the blueberry sauce as a base already), and I worried that the hot glaze will cook the blueberries, so I waited for the glaze to cool off a bit and pour into bowl of blueberries. I realised that after the glaze cool off, it is impossible to drain off using strainer!  Anyway, so after, I just lined up the blueberries on paper towel to absorb the excess. :)

Felt like forever lining the blueberries one by one..esp. when I'm fighting with the heat and worrying the cheesecake will melt soon. But I managed to get it done.  Then I piled up the balance blueberries in the centre...

Saturday Night

After dinner, my husband came to me and asked if I made that pretty cake in the fridge.  I said yes.  He asked if we can eat it later.. I think he can't wait to try it.. hahaha 

Time to taste test!  

I posted this photo on FB hoping to tempt all our fellow bakers who haven't been baking with us for a while to bake this. We miss you! Hurry back and back with us! Don't know if it worked or not.. but I sure hope it did.  (Update: I'm sorry to report that it didn't work.. but instead 3 of our alpha-bakers stepped down!?! :o  So sad ... )

WOW! I'm so impressed with this cake! So good!

Not sure if it is because I hadn't had any desserts for 2 weeks or what (but I think I did steal a bite of banana cake), but this is just WOW!

The cheesecake melts in the mouth and pairs perfectly well with the red velvet which also melts in the mouth. Blueberries 'cleans' richness off the cheese and refreshes the tastebuds.   (I clearly forgotten about the red food coloring in the red velvet...I ate up every last crumb!) 

Everyone in my family said it is so good. A clear winner!

I'm going to bake it often - even when it is not 4th July. :D 

The cheesecake alone is awesome and I can see myself using it with other types cookie & cake base..

Rose, how do you create such perfect cheesecake?

I wonder if you had to taste test a lot of cheesecakes before you came out with this recipe?  :)

Now I can't wait to try all the other cheesecakes in the book.