New York Cheesecake w/ Rum Chocolate Ganache
It's my birthday and I'm feeling nostalgic. Last year I made myself an actual cake. I didn't post it because I absolutely forgot to write down what exactly I did in a truly astonishing series of events because I have this entire food blog so that I don't do that precise thing! But I made sure to remedy that this year by going all out and making not one, not two, not three, but FOUR cheesecakes. Although two of them are the same. I just ran out of large springform pans and used two smaller ones, instead. And, before I hear about it, yes, I do indeed own four springform pans. Is it excessive? Yes. Do I make enough cheesecake to justify it?? Obviously, the answer is yes. Regardless of whether you're looking to make one cheesecake or four, this Rum Cheesecake is a variation on one of my favorite New York-style Cheesecakes from The Joy of Cheesecake by Dana Bovbjerg and Jeremy Iggers.
The classic New York Cheesecake is my family's favorite. My dad made it every year for my birthday. Now, that I'm an adult, though, I'm getting rather fond of mixing it up with a little rum and chocolate ganache. This is the basic New York Cheesecake recipe with a sour cream topping, homemade rum chocolate ganache, and raspberries. So, you can choose to adorn yours in any more or less extravagant way as you like! But I had a lot of fun with this and hope that you get some of that joy out of it as well.
Gallery
There is a rather substantial crack in this cheesecake. This tends to happen when you over whip the eggs, humidity differences, or if your oven is at the wrong temperature. I know for a fact that my oven isn't calibrated correctly, so I'm leaning in that direction here. It will still taste fine! It's entirely cosmetic. And really more of a concern to my personal pride. Especially because I planned on topping all of my cheesecakes this year, so it doesn't even affect the final cosmetic appearance. I do try for as few bubbles and cracking as possible.
Also, don't feed cats cheesecake. Esmérelda here thinks that she needs to be in the background of every picture with her tongue out. But dairy, chocolate, sugar, and liquor are all no-nos for cats! This is a look, but don't touch scenario.
Variations of Chocolate Ganache Cheesecake
I don't always make cheesecake for every single holiday, but it does make a friendly appearance at at least a couple of Birthdays, Thanksgivings, and Christmases. The fun thing about cheesecake is that it lends itself well to a multitude of flavor combinations. I'm obviously quite fond of putting liquor in them. Although you can skip the alcohol if that's not your forte and sub things like lemon juice or peppermint extract.
New York Cheesecake w/ Rum Chocolate Ganache
Equipment
- Spring Form Pan
- Baking Pan or Dish
- Food Processor
Ingredients
Crust
- ~2 tbsp. butter for coating pan
- 1 ½ c. vanilla wafers (200 g.)
- 6 tbsp. butter (preferably unsalted)
- 1/4 c. sugar granulated
Filling
- 2 lbs. cream cheese (four 8 oz. packages)
- 1 c. sour cream
- 3/4 c. sugar granulated
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp. nutmeg
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp. cornstarch
Topping
- 1/2 c. sour cream
- 1 tbsp. powdered sugar
- raspberries
Chocolate Ganache
- 1 c. heavy whipping cream
- 8 oz. dark chocolate (two 4 oz. bars)
- 1 tbsp. rum dark
Instructions
Crust
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Heavily coat a springform cheesecake pan with butter. Set aside.I am a purist when it comes to cheesecake. I do not recommend spraying it with olive oil or attempting a cheesecake in anything other than a cheesecake pan! It will not have the same flavor and it will not come cleanly out of any other type of pan.
- Add vanilla wafers to food processor and process for 1-2 minutes, or until the wafers turn into fine crumbs.You want 1 1/2 cups of vanilla wafer crumbs, so you'll need to add about twice as much whole vanilla wafers to reach this amount. I find it easier to just weigh out 200 grams, which is the equivalent of 1 ½ cups. It's also okay if it's slightly more or slightly less. This isn't the kind of cake where 205 grams is going to matter.
- Add butter and sugar to vanilla wafer crumbs and process for 2 minutes, or until the mixture is fully incorporated and begins to form a ball.
- Add wafer mixture to the springform pan and firmly pack down.
- Bake for 10 minutes.
- Remove from oven and set aside.
Filling
- Turn the oven up to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Place a large baking dish on the bottom rack of the oven and fill with water.DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP. An essential part of making cheesecake is creating steam in the oven.
- Add cream cheese, sour cream, and sugar to a food processor. Process for 2-3 minutes, or until smooth.
- Add eggs gradually, along with nutmeg, vanilla extract, and cornstarch. It’s best to add 1 egg at a time and process until barely incorporated, about 10-15 seconds per egg.DO NOT OVERBEAT. I repeat, DO NOT OVERBEAT! There is nothing that will ruin the texture of a cheesecake faster than overbeating the eggs.
- Pour filling on top of the crust. Let sit for a couple minutes and tap or shake lightly.This will let the air bubbles rise to the surface and will prevent the bubbles from causing brown spots or cracks in the cheesecake. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP!
- Bake for 45 minutes. The cheesecake should be very lightly browned on top.
- Check after 30 minutes and turn down the heat if browning too quickly.
- Turn off the oven and place a wooden spoon the door to prop it open. Let sit for 1-2 hours, or until cool. This will allow the cheesecake to set without removing it from the oven.I cannot stress this enough: DO NOT TOUCH IT! DO NOT REMOVE FROM THE OVEN! DO NOT REMOVE FROM THE PAN! AND DO NOT CUT!
- After the cheesecake is cool, put in the refrigerator and let sit for at least 12 hours. It’s best to bake in the evening and let it set overnight. It will not turn out if you try to cut into it too early.
Topping
- Mix sour cream and powdered sugar together.
- Spread evenly across the top of the cheesecake.It doesn't have to be pretty, we're going to cover it up! Although you could stop at this point, if you don't want to make ganache. I've made plenty of cheesecakes that are just topped with
Chocolate Ganache
- Dice, chop, shred, or otherwise make your chocolate smaller. Add to a large heat-safe bowl.
- Heat heavy whipping cream until warm, but not boiling.I did this on the stove and stirred constantly until heated. You can likely do this in a microwave. Just make sure that it doesn't boil, foam, or curdle.
- Immediately pour cream over chocolate, whisking constantly.
- Add in rum and continue to mix for about 2 minutes. The ganache should be smooth, shiny, and the texture of hot fudge.
- Let cool at room temperature until it reaches the consistency that you need it for and spread over the cheesecake.
- Arrange raspberries on top.
- Refrigerate and serve within 24 hours.
Tips, Tricks, & Notes
- Cheesecake will keep for 2-3 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator. It will technically keep for longer and is still fine to eat. However, after a couple days in the refrigerator the butter will begin to separate, so I advice eating it sooner rather than later!
This Page Contains Edited Images
As a general rule, I don't like to edit images. Food styling, editing, alteration, and even faking entirely is just as rampant a problem in the recipe realm. Cooking is a very visual art and you can tell when a lot of foods are cooked based on the color. So, when this is altered and you can't use the coloration as a gauge, it makes it quite difficult to follow some recipes. I have an entire article about Food Styling and Unrealistic Expectations of Recipes. My place has very warm lighting, though. So, sometimes my camera overcompensates and ends up with an unnatural hues. I've adjusted the hues, levels, and/or cropped the following images:
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