Polka Dot Cheesecake
Find out 'How To Make A Polka Dot Cheesecake You'll Love!' This cheesecake was the treat I made for a friend to celebrate her birthday several years ago. She has an affinity for polka dots and cheesecake. It seemed like the perfect dessert for that occasion.
One of my favorite flavor combinations is almond and chocolate. This decadent dessert is another example of the two flavors coming together perfectly. The crust is a combination of crushed Chocolate Teddy Grahams and chopped toasted almonds. The cheesecake batter is flavored with almond and melted chocolate is added to a portion of the batter for the polka dots.
Adding the melted semisweet chocolate makes the batter denser so it stays together better, keeps its shape, and creates the 'polka dots'. Sometimes, I allow the chocolate batter to be seen from the top, but this time chose to submerge the chocolate dots entirely, except for the middle dot.
After piping the chocolate into the middle, I decided to hide the other dots! The grandkids were here and I thought they would enjoy the chocolate surprise inside! The cheesecake looks really interesting with the chocolate dots visible on the top, but how neat to cut into the cake and reveal those chocolate dots?
The denser, rich chocolate portion of the cheesecake is a nice contrast to the creamy almond flavored portion.
Polka Dot Cheesecake
Crust: 1/3 cup Sugar 6 Tblsp. Butter, melted 1-1/2 cups chocolate Teddy Graham crumbs 1 cup toasted and chopped Almonds
Cheesecake: 4 (8-ounce) pkg. Cream Cheese 1-1/4 cups Sugar 1-1/2 Almond extract
1 tsp. vanilla 4 large eggs 4 (1-ounce) semisweet chocolate squares
Combine the 1/3 cup of sugar, melted butter, Teddy Graham crumbs, and the chopped almonds. Press onto the bottom and about 1" up the sides of a 9" springform pan. Bake for 10 minutes at 350°.
In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese until creamy. Add the 1-1/4 cups of sugar and beat well. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Add the almond extract, the vanilla, and mix well.
Remove 1-1/2 cups of the batter to a small mixing bowl or measuring cup. Pour the remainder of the batter into the prepared pan.
Stir the melted chocolate into the reserved batter in the small mixing bowl.
Pour the batter into a Ziploc plastic bag. Snip off one corner of the plastic bag.
Insert the snipped corner into the middle of the white batter to a 1/2" depth and squeeze about a 2" circle of chocolate. Remove and squeeze batter evenly into six 1-1/2" circles around the edge of the pan.
Bake at 350° for 60 minutes in a bain-marie. Open the oven slightly and allow the cheesecake to come to room temperature before refrigerating overnight or until it is completely chilled.
I love cheesecake! Recipes for some of my other favorite cheesecakes can be found by clicking on the Recipe Index Tab or here ►Cheesecakes.
Supriya Cutty has a post at www.quichentell.com and featured a low-calorie ricotta 'Chocolate Marbled Cheesecake', which she made. I haven't made any ricotta based cheesecakes. Have you? I have to try this soon. Will keep you updated.
In the meantime, I am going to enjoy a piece of this 'not so low calorie, but it is so worth it cheesecake! Nom! So if you want to serve an unusual looking and delicious cheesecake, this Polka Dot Cheesecake might just be the winner! And now you know 'How To Make A Polka Dot Cheesecake You'll Love!'
