Eats // Red Velvet Cheesecake

Hopefully you’ve noticed that it’s almost Valentine’s Day!

If you and your sweetie are planning on staying in or you just want a decadent dessert for after dinner, I have the perfect Valentine’s dessert! Red Velvet Cheesecake… It’s the perfect blend of cheesecake, red velvet flavor, and cream cheese frosting. Yum!

It all starts with a double chocolate chip cookie crust. All the chocolate chippety goodness you can get in a 1/2 inch crust.

Next comes the actual cheesecake body, which is thick and deliciously creamy. The recipe I use calls for 2 bottles of red food coloring, but I’ve made this a few times and you can easily get by with one bottle… But not this time!

Here’s the thing about the water bath. A water bath is supposed to help keep the cheesecake from cracking. I’ve made this particular cheesecake 6 or 7 times (What??? It’s delicious!) and since it was my first cheesecake ever, I followed the directions to a T that first time. My cheesecake looked beautiful. The next time I was lazy and it cracked… The moral of the story? Maybe whoever came up with this water bath situation has a point. So, I’ve been doing it ever since. And it keeps turning out. Now, if you don’t care if your cheesecake cracks? Skip it, it’s annoying.

If you make this cheesecake in a springform pan, as intended, it definitely takes some serious baking time. Like 2 hours serious. But it’s worth the wait and in the mean time, you can whip up some delicious cream cheese frosting to garnish it with.

Once cooled, I like to make a fun pattern that allows for the maximum frosting to cheesecake ratio. The cheesecake is so rich that I like a little extra of the light fluffy frosting to complement it. However, it’s so pretty that I also like the red to show through. What a conundrum! Hence this design…

I prefer to let my cheesecake cool in the fridge for a few hours before serving. The final product is definitely in my top 3 of favorite desserts, if not #1. And that’s saying something because I never liked cheesecake before tasting this Red Velvet Cheesecake!

// RED VELVET CHEESECAKE

Crust

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl, beat butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt; stir into the butter mixture until well blended. Mix in the chocolate chips. Press into springform pan and bake for 7-9 minutes (will not be baked all the way).

**Recipe modified from Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies I on allrecipes.com

Red Velvet Cheesecake

Ingredients:

• 3 (8 ounces) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups granulated white sugar
• 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 3 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
• 2 ounces red food coloring (2 1-ounce bottles)

Directions:

Set oven at 325 degrees. Prepare water bath: Fill large roasting pan (big enough for springform pan to fit into) with about 1 inch of water. Place in oven and allow to preheat with oven. Beat cream cheese and sugar at medium-low speed with an electric mixer for 1 minute. Add eggs and remaining cheesecake ingredients, mixing on low speed until just full combined. Pour batter into prepared crust. Take out 2 sheets of heavy duty foil and layer them on top of one another. Place springform pan on top of the foil and wrap the foil gently around the pan and up the sides. Make sure that there are no tears or holes and that the foil comes all the way up around all sides of the cake. Carefully place the foil-protected pan into the water bath in the preheated oven.

Bake for 10 minutes; reduce heat to 300 degrees. Bake for an additional 90 minutes or until the center is firm. Turn oven off. Let cheesecake stand in oven for 30 minutes. Remove cheesecake from oven. Carefully remove cheesecake from water bath and place on wire rack. Run a thin knife around the outer edge of the cheesecake. Cool on rack for a couple hours, until the cheesecake becomes close to room temperature. Cover and chill for at least 8 hours (or overnight). Remove sides of springform pan.

 Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

• 3 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup butter, at room temperature
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Beat cream cheese and butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Gradually add powdered sugar and vanilla, beating until smooth.

**Recipe modified from Red Velvet Cheescake on RecipeGirl.com

I hope you enjoy this decadent dessert as much as I do! Also, in the unlikely event you find yourself with some cheesecake left over, you can save it longer by cutting it into pieces, wrapping in foil, and freezing. Then you can have a sweet treat any time you’d like and it will stay good about a month!

What kind of desserts do you like to indulge on during Valentine’s? Do you have a favorite or will you try this or something else new?