Best B52 Cheese Cake Recipes

THE BEST CHEESECAKE

Steps:

• Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F.
• For the crust: Put the butter in a medium microwave-safe bowl, cover with a paper towel and melt in the microwave in 10-second increments. Brush a 9-inch springform pan with some of the melted butter.
• Stir together the remaining butter with the graham cracker crumbs, sugar and salt. Press the crumb mixture into the bottom of the pan, taking care to get the crust evenly to the edges. Bake until golden brown, 15 to 18 minutes. Let cool. Place the pan on a large sheet of foil and wrap up the sides. Place in a roasting pan.
• For the cheesecake: Beat together the cream cheese and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed for 1 minute. Add the sour cream and vanilla and beat until just combined. Mix in the eggs by hand, one at a time, until just combined. (Take care not to overmix or the cheesecake will puff up and crack.) Pour the batter evenly over the crust, smoothing the top. Pour enough hot water into the roasting pan to come about halfway up the sides of the foil-wrapped springform pan. Bake until the outside of the cake is set but the center is still slightly loose, about 1 hour and 20 minutes.
• Turn the oven off and leave the cheesecake in the oven for another hour. Remove the cheesecake from the roasting pan to a cooling rack. Run a knife around the edge and cool to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate at least 8 hours.
• Run a knife around the edge of the pan once more and unlock to unmold the cheesecake. Transfer to a serving platter or cake stand and smooth the edges with a knife.

B-52 CHEESECAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees if using a silver 8- or 9-inch springform pan; 325 degrees if using a dark springform pan. Line pan bottom with parchment or waxed paper.
• To make crust: Combine chocolate wafer crumbs with margarine. Press firmly onto bottom of pan; set aside. Bake 5 minutes to set crust.
• Beat cream cheese and sugar on medium speed until well-blended.
• Add sour cream and vanilla; mix well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating on low speed until blended. Divide batter into 3 parts. Add 1 liqueur to each part. Spread each part over crust, in layers. Bake 60 to 70 minutes, until center is almost set.
• Turn oven off and open oven door slightly. Leave cheesecake in oven 1 hour.
• Remove; cool completely. Refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.
• Loosen cheesecake from rim of pan; remove rim.

B-52 BOMBER CHEESECAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. Crush or process cookies. Pour Kahlúa over cookie crumbs and mix well. Add the melted butter and stir to combine. Press into a 10" springform pan, which has been lined with a sheet of parchment paper. ***I cover the flat bottom of a springform pan with parchment paper and snap the side ring around the bottom, catching the parchment securely. This makes the cheesecake easy to release from the pan. As always, I wrap the bottom and sides of the springform pan with heavy-duty aluminum foil and set it in a roasting pan to fill with hot water before baking. In a bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Remove 2 cups of batter to a separate bowl. Set aside for the Grand Marnier Layer. Bailey's Layer: To the remaining batter, add 1/2 cup Bailey's Irish Cream. Stir the Irish cream into the batter and mix well. Grand Marnier Layer: 2 cups of batter set aside earlier 1/4 cup Grand Marnier 1 Tablespoon *freshly grated orange peel Add the Grand Marnier and orange peel to the batter set aside earlier and mix well. Bake for 55 minutes at 350° or until the center is almost set. Open the oven door slightly and leave the cheesecake in the oven to cool. Remove from the oven, cover with aluminum foil, and chill overnight. Before serving, add chocolate curls, orange zest, and sprigs of mint.

OUR BEST CHEESECAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Mix graham crumbs, butter and 1/4 cup sugar; press onto bottom of 9-inch springform pan.
• Beat cream cheese and remaining sugar in large bowl with mixer until blended. Add sour cream and vanilla; mix well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating on low speed after each addition just until blended. Pour over crust.
• Bake 1 hour to 1 hour 10 min. or until center is almost set. Run knife around rim of pan to loosen cake; cool before removing rim. Refrigerate cheesecake 4 hours.
• Top with pie filling before serving.

TALL AND CREAMY CHEESECAKE

Steps:

• To make the crust: Butter a 9-inch springform pan - choose one that has sides that are 2 3/4 inches high (if the sides are lower, you will have cheesecake batter left over) - and wrap the bottom of the pan in a double layer of aluminum foil.
• Stir the crumbs, sugar and salt together in a medium bowl. Pour over the melted butter and stir until all of the dry ingredients are uniformly moist. (I do this with my fingers.) Turn the ingredients into the springform pan and use your fingers to pat an even layer of crumbs along the bottom of the pan and about halfway up the sides. Don't worry if the sides are not perfectly even or if the crumbs reach above or below the midway point on the sides. Put the pan in the freezer while you preheat the over. (The crust can be covered and frozen for up to 2 months.)
• Center a rack in the over, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and place the springform on a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Set the crust aside to cool on a rack while you make the cheesecake.
• Reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees.
• To make the cheesecake: Put a kettle of water on to boil.
• Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with the paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the cream cheese at medium speed until it is soft and creamy, about 4 minutes. With the mixer running, add the sugar and salt and continue to beat for another 4 minutes or so, until the cream cheese is light. Beat in the vanilla. Add the eggs, one by one, beating for 1 full minute after each addition - you want a well-aerated batter. Reduce the mixer speed to low and stir in the sour cream and/or heavy cream.
• Put the foil-wrapped springform pan in a roasting pan that is large enough to hold the pan with some space around it.
• Give the batter a few stirs with a rubber spatula, just to make sure that nothing has been left unmixed at the bottom of the bowl, and scrape the batter into the springform pan. The batter will reach the rim of the pan. (If you have a pan with lower sides and have leftover batter, you can bake the batter in a buttered ramekin or small soufflé mold.) Put the roasting pan in the oven and pour enough boiling water into the roaster to come halfway up the sides of the springform pan.
• Bake the cheesecake for 1 hour 30 minutes, at which point the top will be browned (and perhaps cracked) and may have risen just a little above the rim of the pan. Turn off the oven's heat and prop the oven door open with a wooden spoon. Allow the cheesecake to luxuriate in its water bath for another hour.
• After 1 hour, carefully pull the setup out of the oven, lift the springform pan out of the roaster - be careful, there may be some hot water in the aluminum foil - and remove the foil. Let the cheesecake come to room temperature on a cooling rack.
• When the cake is cool, cover the top lightly and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, although overnight is better.
• At serving time, remove the sides of the springform pan - you can use a hairdryer to do this - and set the cake on a serving platter.