Monday, April 27, 2009

Daring Bakers Challenge April 2009 - Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.




This was my first Daring Bakers Challenge, and my very first cheesecake to make (I’ve had it once or twice before, though).
The recipe called for graham crackers for the crust, and they are nowhere to be found in Italy, where I live.
So, I checked in my teenage memories, back when my exotic bake researches stretched as far as United Kingdom and Ireland. I remember that cheesecakes there and then were made with a crust of Digestives, and as they have been my favorite cookies for a very long time, it was natural for me to use them.



So I mixed 12 crumbled cookies with 4oz (115gr) of butter and two tablespoons of sugar.



As for the actual cheese part, it went on pretty easily: I just mixed the cream cheese (24 oz/ 720gr) with 1 cup of sugar (200gr), 3 large eggs, 1 cup (240 ml) of heavy cream.
When it came to the flavor, there was no doubt: a few weeks ago I opened a rose water bottle, one that I had found last year in an International Food store in Las Vegas and that I was keeping as a big treasure, being it so difficult to find here.



The point is, how precious can a thing be, if you don’t use and enjoy it? And so now, we smell and taste a lot of rose, in this house!
I skipped the liquor that was in the original recipe, I kept a tablespoon of lemon juice, because lemon scent takes out rose’s one best, and went with 1.5 tbsp of rose water.



The baking was to be made in a water bath, but I didn’t trust my springform pan, so I followed a suggestion by Jill of Jillicious Desserts that I read on the Daring Kitchen forum. I used a normal pan, and after the cake cooled, I froze it. Once the cake was frozen, it was easy to pop it out of the pan (although it was not completely solid, even if it had stayed in the freezer overnight).

As a decoration I used non-treated roses and petals. This was a lot of fun for my kids, for when they saw me spreading petals around, thought that if Mommy was doing it, it must have been the right thing to do and “helped”.
The cake was very good, and the taste of roses was much stronger the day after the baking.




I know that many other Daring Bakers went down the monoportion/cupcakes path. It is a very good idea, and I wish I had it. I’ll keep it in mind for the next times.

24 comments:

  1. I did mine with rose too but it's nowhere near as pretty as yours.

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  2. Wow! Your photos are beautiful!! I love the rose water idea!

    Thanks for stopping by my blog!

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  3. non so cosa darei per averti come vicina di casa.....


    p

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  4. What a great colour and rose sounds so good. Everything about the photos is so pretty and cute I could jump right into the screen and eat the lot. Bravo lovely work on your first challenge hope you have many many more. Bravo yours from Australia

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  5. Wow looks lovely! Great job on your challenge.

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  6. Digestives seem like the perfect biscuit to use for crust. That pink is gorgeous

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  7. I LOVE your cheesecake!!! I was looking forward to see your post. It looks so delicious and delicate at the same time! Great job :)

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  8. I love the pink color! Rose water is so tasty and must have gone wonderfully with the cheesecake!

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  9. I don't think I've ever tasted rose water, but your cheesecake is so pretty!

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  10. Nice job! And welcome to daring bakers, and to the blogosphere in general!

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  11. Thanks to everybody.
    I wasn't expecting so much fun!

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  12. Your cheesecake is so beautiful!! Congratulations on your first challenge too. I'm glad the tip for freezing your cheesecake worked out for you. I look forward to seeing your next creation and will be bookmarking your blog (if that is ok with you).

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  13. That's a very pretty cheesecake, nicely presented too. I wish I had frozen my cheesecake before unmolding it, will remember it for next time.

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  14. Your cheesecake is lovely. Great job on this month's challenge.

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  15. Gorgeous color. I'll have to try freezing next time.

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  16. Stunning & very romantic. Love the rose petals. Hopefully you have someone special to share this with =)

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  17. Rose sounds lovely, and the color and presentation is beautiful. Wonderful for your first cheesecake!

    Jenny of JennyBakes

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  18. That's one seductively sexy cheesecake!

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  19. Mmm, your cheesecake looks amazing!! I love the roses =D.

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  20. Congrats on your first challenge! The cheesecake looks so pretty in pink.

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  21. What a beautiful cheesecake! Great pictures. :)

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  22. Your cheesecake looks really beautiful with the rose decorations, thanks for commenting mine too, looking forward to seeing your future DB challenges!

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  23. This looks beautiful. Lovely touch with the rose theme. And your crust looks great. Another time you can always make your own graham wafer crust -- I did that this time! :)
    Welcome to DB!

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