Day 47
Yesterday I couldn’t wait to get home and spend some time in the kitchen. I had a tasty dinner planned and our new activity was food related. After I picked up Joe and we got home, I headed straight to the kitchen to decompress.
On tap for dinner was a Spicy Red Bean & Rice dish. I’m all about beans lately – buying them dry from the bulk section and soaking them overnight. I like actually cooking them instead of further mushy-fying them when they come out of a can.
I did hit a bit of a snag, though, when I realized we were out of brown rice. We had arborio rice (risotto rice), which I figured would be a fine substitution. I love arborio rice but I’m not all that crazy about the stand there and stir it for a half hour process. It was worth it though.
Instead of a wet bean mixture soaking into dry cooked rice, this dish took on a universally creamy texture, which was delicious. Success!
A couple hours after dinner we got to work on our new activity for the evening. Can you guess from these ingredients what it was?
After the ladyfinger fiasco on our tiramisu night I thought I’d go with a recipe that seemed pretty foolproof.
Make Cheesecake from Scratch
I pulled out my Joy of Cooking and turned to the “Creamy Water Bath Cheesecake” that I’d seen some other bloggers make and rave about.
We started by rubbing our springform pan with one tablespoon of unsalted butter. Then we shook around graham cracker crumbs until they stuck and coated all the sides.
I liked the idea of this “crust” because it was more of a coating instead of the usual graham cracker + butter baked crust.
Next we pulled out my beloved stand mixer and got to work on the filling. We whipped the heck out of the cream cheese and then added in the sugar and the eggs (one at a time, of course).
I did the first 3 eggs and left the last one to Joe, who thought I’d be cute to pull a Rocky Balboa and down the egg raw.
Or at least pretend to. 
I assure you all 4 eggs made it into the batter, not into Joe’s stomach. Blech.
The one tedious part of the process was the constant scraping down of the sides of the mixing bowl. We were up to our elbows in cheesecake batter and this spatula got quite the sticky abuse.
The last ingredient to go in (after sugar + eggs + sour cream + heavy cream + vanilla), was the special flavor enhancer. Also one of my favorite things ever…
Oooo yes, lemon zest. I have a huge crush on lemons. Every morning I juice an entire lemon into my green tea. I swear it does wonderful things for my body, in addition to tasting amazing.
When the batter was done and sufficiently blended into creamy goodness, we poured it into the graham cracker coated pan.
The pan was wrapped in foil and placed in a roasting pan because boiling water was poured into the roasting pan right before baking (hence the name Creamy Water Bath Cheesecake).
Now comes the part where we were required to exhibit the utmost patience. Look what we had to go through:
1. The cheesecake baked for 60 minutes.
2. The cheesecake sat in the oven for another 60 minutes with the oven off and door ajar.
3.The cheesecake was removed from the water bath and placed on a cooling rack – another 60 minutes.
4. The cheesecake was placed in the fridge OVERNIGHT.
Why do I keep choosing recipes that we can’t eat until the next morning?? Needless to say this morning I was practically clawing my way out of bed to get to that cheesecake.
Yes, we had cheesecake for breakfast.
I thought, if we’re going to eat cheesecake at 7 am we might as do it in style. When we got engaged almost a year ago my parents gifted us with a beautiful cake stand with matching plates and a serving knife. I’ve yet to use it but I thought this was the perfect occasion.
Here’s the cake stand before the cheesecake was lovingly placed atop it. The set is botanical themed and I’m absolutely in love with it.
The cheesecake unmolded from the springform pan without a hitch, and fit perfectly on the stand.
The top didn’t look so perfect because the graham crackers were a bit too crumbly and a couple drips from the water bath hit it, but it looked good enough to us.
I pulled out two plates from the set and admired their designs.
And the last bit of the set, the serving knife, ready to make its first cut.
The first cut was a bit hairy (isn’t it that way with every cake?), but they came out mostly intact.
Oh baby. Hello most delicious breakfast EVER.
It was everything we’d hoped it’d be: creamy and light with perfect flavor and a hint of lemon. It reminded us of the deep fried cheesecake we ate on our honeymoon.
Writing this post has made me realize just how wonderfully ridiculous this whole project is. Never before would Joe have joined me in the kitchen for baking projects, and we definitely would never have eaten cheesecake (or tiramisu) for breakfast. I’ve always wanted to make cheesecake but never had a reason. I think my new motto may be that I shouldn’t need a reason to make or try something, I should just do it!
And if this supposed snow storm hits us tonight, we have a delicious cheesecake to live off of for the rest of the weekend. Bonus.
TGIF!
Holy shit that looks amazing. If you have any left over that you don’t want, let me know.
Thats UNREAL!!! I can’t bring myself to make cheesecake at home because well, I’d eat the whole thing in one sitting! I love your project, especially since Adam and I are newlyweds too, yet we’re far less motivated. I’m living vicariously
Lovely! I enjoyed the tie in to the project and doing things ‘just because’. why not?
I love that you guys eat tiramisu and cheesecake for breakfast
It looks fabulous! I finally made a “real” cheesecake a few months ago (water bath and everything) – so good, and easier than I thought! Looks like that one turned out great.
Looks like your cheesecake turned out really well! Delish and a super fun project!
oh that looks AH.MAZ.ING! mentally bookmarking the recipe now. and yours didn’t even crack! my mom would be impressed. she seems to think if her cheesecake cracks, it’s ruined. my stomach disagrees.
I hear the key to keeping cracks away is the water bath method paired with a very slow, long cooldown. It was excruciating to wait through, but worth it!
Cooking with others is so much fun! It looks like you had a great time – with delicious results!
Snowed in with cheesecake made from scratch with lemon zest? it sounds like a dream.
yum. i love a good cheesecake recipe. this looks like a good one to try–and the lemon zest, LOVE IT!
I’m glad you guys are loving the project, it’s been such fun to read about! I’ve been meaning to write in and mention for a while how much your amazing photography adds to the reading experience, you really have a lot of talent!
Oh my god! That looks awesome. You should add different toppings to it everyday!
That cheesecake looks amazing! I love lemon too!
I have had the best vegan cheesecake here in vancouver. it’s called “chi cake”, hee hee, would you ever be up for attepmting something like that?!
Nicely done.
A neat way to cut a cheesecake is to stretch a length of nylon fishing line taut on a diameter and pull it down through the cheesecake or be really sterile and use dental floss. Cuts clean — you might have to saw it back and forth when you get down to the crust.
I learned that from the Naples Cheesecake factory that was just a short walk from my first Naples condo.
Always such nice photos! I have NO idea how you both stay so slim, but cheers to whatever you do because you AND the cake look great!
Oh my gosh! I love this! Who wouldn’t want to eat cheesecake for breakfast? And one that you made with your hubby the night before no less! And it looks amaaaazing. Lemon zest is also a love of mine. I put it in/on EVERYTHING. If you have happen to make soup this weekend, zest a lemon (I usually use two) into the soup right before it’s finished! It’s especially good with chicken noodle/vegetable but will work with anything. So so good!
I always read, but rarely comment and promise to change that!
Hey Olivia, thanks for the comment
And I’ve never put lemon zest in soup but I will now!
Lemon or lime juice (preferably key lime) is also great on a nice rare steak. Old Italian/Latino trick. Squeeze it on from a wedgee just like in fish.
Larry you must let me know all your food secrets!
Happy to see you use the plates with one of my favorite desserts! I’ll send you my “secret” NY cheesecake recipe for you to try.
I’m happy to, but they’re covered with the accumulation of 85 years of stuff and it takes a trigger like reading your cheesecake story the cheesecake or lemons as a secret ingredient/flavor enhancer to scrape away the junk and expose a little nugget.
I ‘ll keep reading your blog and when something gets bared I’ll share. Bare it and I’ll share it.
I like the sound of that.
I know this comment is very late, but I love your Portmerion cakestand set! Matt and I started our Portmerion collection while we were living in the UK. There is a factory there so we got it at the outlet for cheap. Now I will be after that cakestand to add to our set!
Lovely cheesecake! Just catching up on your posts since you’ve been married…wow! <3