So here we have Lemon Curd Marbled Cheesecake, from Epicurious. (I personally don't think the picture at their site does it justice. You can't see the swirled top.) It is such a beautiful dessert for the beginning of Spring! The lemon flavor is less obvious than in the goat-cheese lemon tart I made last year, because the cheesecake is stronger. But you can always drizzle more lemon curd over the top, as we did, and the cheesecake texture is superb. Yum!
It isn't hard to make, although it takes a few steps. You start with lemon curd---any recipe, really, but I have one here. Let that chill for an hour or two, while you make a graham cracker crust in a springform pan. (I used a larger one than called for, which makes a slightly thinner cheesecake. I prefer that.) Bake the crust for 10 minutes at 350.
Then make the cheesecake filling, as follows:
3 (8-oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
3/4 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
Beat it together (first cream cheese and sugar, then eggs one at a time, then sour cream and vanilla) and pour 2/3 of it into the crust. Then dot with half of lemon curd. Then rest of cheesecake. Then rest of lemon curd. Then swirl it gently together with a butter knife, so it looks like this:
Then you bake it at 300 for 45 minutes, or actually it was more like an hour---till it's firm 1-1/2 inches from the edge, but still jiggles slightly in the middle.
Why do people worry about cheesecake cracking on top when you bake it? I hear people talking about it like it's a bad thing, but I think the cracks are lovely! They add to the appeal, especially when they follow the swirls of the lemon curd. Isn't it beautiful?
I garnished ours with violets. I love violets. And you can eat them, did you know? At least I hope you can, because we did.
And there it is. Spring, in lemony cheesecake form. Enjoy it while the snow falls (and melts) outside! :)
UPDATE: more pictures, and sugared violet recipe, here
So, what did the violets _taste_ like? I'd like to grow some edible flowers this year (I've only tried nasturtiums...kind of peppery). They look SO pretty on things (including that cheesecake)!
ReplyDeletemmmmmm, looks so dreamy!
ReplyDeleteAllison: I've always been fascinated with edible flowers. I'd like to grow some others, too. The violets tasted just like they smell: kind of faintly sweet and flowery, and a slight crunch like baby spinach. I'd like to try making sugared violets sometime (feel like I've seen those in magazines before).
ReplyDeleteOkay. I want to know - since I'm late getting here, and adverse effects from the violets would have manifested themselves by now. Are there any? Were there? And this I have to say to you: you are a CRUEL, COLD HEARTED WOMAN to parade something this beautiful and seductive in front of people who run to fat at even the thought of taking a taste. I want that lemon cheesecake SO BAD. Are you trying to fatten Sam up?
ReplyDeleteK: No adverse effects from the violets, so feel free to eat some of yours. (I see them on your header. Beautiful.) And I suppose I'm fattening us _all_ up. Not on purpose. But I just love making things, and eating them. That's the trouble.
ReplyDelete