Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake

I'm so excited about this cheesecake! You ladies should save this recipe for Valentine's Day because it's just so cute and appropriately colored and fancy enough for a holiday! Cheesecake is my new favorite think to bake. I love how it can be light & fruity, or it can be rich & decadent, all depending on what little ingredients you add to it. I love how moist it is, and I love my springform pan. I had a dream the other night that I opened a cheesecake bakery. Just cheesecakes. Yum.

Today, I have a cute little simple cheesecake recipe for you. It's so simple that you could do it in a 9x13 pan if you want! The cheesecake and raspberry part comes from my sorority's cookbook, and the other parts I just made up as I went (but I actually remembered to measure things out so I could tell you about it!).

This cheesecake has four parts:
1. Crust
2. Cheesecake with raspberry swirl
3. White chocolate ganache
4. Icing/raspberry drizzle/white chocolate pieces for decoration (optional)

See? Pretty layers!

Here's the recipe:

Crust:
1 1/4 crushed graham cracker crumbs
1/3 c margarine, melted
1/4 c sugar

Combine well and press into the bottom of a 9-inch round springform pan (make sure it goes just a teensy bit up the sides as well).

Filling:
1 8oz packages cream cheese, softened
3 eggs
1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 c lemon juice

Beat cream cheese and condensed milk until smooth (hand mixer or stand mixer will do!). Add eggs and lemon juice. Pour on top of prepared crust.

Raspberry Swirl:
1/2 bag frozen raspberries, defrosted
3 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp flour

Mix well, squishing the raspberries a bit (if you really want all the little raspberry bits to be gone, then mix it in a blender or food processor. I liked the little raspberry bits... it makes it seem fresh!). Microwave for 1 minute; stir. Pour in lines on top of cream cheese filling. Use a knife to swirl the raspberry mixture.

Bake at 300 for 50-55 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack. Refrigerate.

White Chocolate Ganache:
1 oz white chocolate (chips or a 1oz square)
1/4 cup butter
1 cup powdered sugar

Melt the chocolate and butter over very low heat, stirring constantly (I don't have photos of this, due to the whole stirring constantly thing). Once melted, mix in the powdered sugar and stir until smooth. Pour over the COOLED cheesecake and spread evenly. Put the cheesecake back in the fridge.

The cheesecake should be in the fridge for at least a couple hours before you eat it... overnight would be ideal.

Decorating:
This is where you can get creative. I thought I was getting creative, but I ended up creating a frumpy little weird cake. I'll tell you about what I used, but really... if I had to do it again, I'd just use some white chocolate shavings on the top and call it a day! This is one of the ugliest cakes I've ever decorated!

Ugh. It looks like someone was stabbed on top of it. Dumb raspberry sauce.

Basic vanilla icing: (1 tsp vanilla, 1 tbsp milk, 1 cup powdered sugar - mixed well!) I used a star tip to pipe it in big spots around the edges and in little dots in the center.

Raspberry drizzle: (5 thawed raspberries, a little water, & 3 tablespoons powdered sugar, mixed well) This didn't turn out well. It was way too clumpy. Hence, it ended up just clumped in the center of the cake rather than drizzled. Hence, the frumpy cake. I'd suggest looking up a better way to do the whole raspberry sauce thing.

White chocolate roses: (white chocolate, melted over low heat and poured into a mold, then refrigerated) I placed these on every other icing clump around the edges and in a trio in the middle.

My mold came from Bake it Pretty

I think I made this recipe sound way harder than it actually is. It's really a pretty simple cheesecake! You could totally do this with just an 8x8 or 9x13 glass pan and a hand mixer (or a whisk and some arm muscles). And other than the white chocolate (and maybe cream cheese), it should be pretty much all ingredients you already have! Just be careful not to burn your white chocolate, and you'll be good! Oh, and don't make your cake into a crime scene by experimenting with raspberry drizzle sauce. Please, learn from my mistakes.