White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake

I love to bake, and cheesecakes have become one of my favorite ways of impressing people with my "skills." Cheesecakes are notorious for how difficult they are to perfect, so they have been a nice challenge for me.

My favorite cheesecake is the White Chocolate Raspberry, and quickly became so after having my first bite of one at The Cheesecake Factory in Chicago. It was delicious, but at over $40 for a whole cheesecake, I'm glad I learned how to make my own!

The recipe I started with got very high reviews on AllRecipes.com, but I have tweaked it a little, and added some white chocolate mousse swirls on top to more closely match the Cheesecake Factory look.

The process for this recipe specificially is very labor intensive and has several stages.

The Top left bowl is the cheesecake batter, the top right bowl is a ganache made with white chocolate and heavy cream that is folded into the cheesecake batter. The bottom left bowl is the pulverized oreos that I use for the crust (I don't think graham crackers would do it justice) and finally, but most importantly, the bottom right bowl contains the red raspberry sauce that gives this cheesecake it's flavor.

Once all four steps are done, the cheesecake comes together fairly quickly.

After you put the oreos in the pan, pour half the cheesecake batter, and then drizzle with raspberry sauce.

After the raspberry layer is done, finish pouring the rest of the batter, and pour more raspberry sauce on top. You can get creative on this step, and I've seen some really cute designs done, but I like to just swirl a knife around like crazy with no rhyme or reason. It mostly gets covered up in the end anyway.

After baking for almost 70 minutes, the cheesecake should cool (I prefer letting it cool completely in the oven after it is turned off. You get less cracks that way. And it usually gives a much more creamy texture too. Once it has cooled, and just before serving, I like to pipe the white chocolate mousse on top. You can shave white chocolate too, which would be very tasty, but not necessary.

And here is what a piece looks like once the cheesecake has been cut.

Here is the full recipe, I hope you enjoy!

White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake

3 cups of finely crushed oreos (use the whole cookie, and pulse in food processor)
2 T. Sugar
½ cup butter, melted

1 pkg frozen raspberries (10 oz)
5 T. white sugar, more or less to taste
2 t. corn starch
½ c. water.

2 cups white chocolate chips
½ cup heavy cream, (get a pint though, you’ll use the rest for the mousse topping)

3 (8 oz) pkgs. of cream cheese, softened
½ cup white sugar
3 eggs
1 t. vanilla

1 box instant pudding (I like white chocolate or cheesecake flavor)


Directions
1. In a medium bowl, mix together cookie crumbs, sugar and the melted butter. Press mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a 9” spring form pan. Tip: I add melted butter into crumb/sugar mixture just until it sticks together. You may use less than ½ cup.

2. In a saucepan, combine raspberries, sugar, cornstarch, and water. Bring to boil, and continue boiling 5 minutes, or until sauce is thick. Strain sauce through a mesh strainer to remove seeds.

3. Fill shallow glass pan with water and place in oven, on lowest rack. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. In a metal bowl over a pan of simmering water, melt white chocolate chips with heavy cream, stirring occasionally until smooth.

4. In a large bowl, mix together cream cheese and ½ cup sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time. Blend in vanilla and melted white chocolate. Pour half of batter over crust. Spoon 3 T. raspberry sauce over batter. Pour remaining cheesecake batter into pan, and again spoon 3 T raspberry sauce over the top. Swirl batter with the tip of a knife to create a marbled effect.

5. Cover the bottom of pan with aluminum foil to prevent dripping from the butter and oreo cookie filling. Bake for 55 or 60 minutes (or until set, I bake mine for about 70 minutes). Cool, cover with plastic wrap being sure to press wrap onto surface of cheesecake to prevent condensation drips, and refrigerate for 8 hours before removing from pan. Serve with remaining raspberry sauce. I prefer room temperature, but that's a personal preference.

6. Once cheesecake is ready to serve, whip remaining heavy cream with ½ package of instant pudding and 2 T sugar until stiff, but not firm. Pipe mixture using a pastry bag onto cheesecake in desired design.