Valentine’s Day Cheesecake

I am so beyond excited to share today’s recipe with you all! This dessert makes me giddy! It’s cute, it’s creamy, it’s fruity, and it’s chocolatey! There are not enough words to tell you how delicious and fun this cheesecake is! Basically, you should head to the grocery store and make this Valentine’s Day Cheesecake for your lover…or your kids…or yourself. There is no shame in baking and eating a whole cheesecake all to yourself, I mean, I practically ate this whole thing, but I did let my kids have a couple bites, okay they each got a small slice, but I won’t look down on you for wanting the whole thing.

Anyway, this cheesecake is perfect for Valentine’s Day, because of the heart swirl pattern. You are going to flip when you hear how simple it is to make, are you ready? You make this amazing strawberry coulis (sauce) and put it in a squeeze bottle, drop little dots on top of the cheesecake batter in a spiral from the outside in towards the center, and then take a toothpick and drag it through the spiral of dots without lifting the toothpick up. Ta-da! Hearts! I need to teach you all more fancy marbled and scalloped patterns for different desserts…I think I will! Stay tuned!

Oh! Did I mention that the cheesecake is lemony? No? Oh, well it is! The lemon/strawberry combo is fabulous and this was one of the creamiest cheesecakes I have had. It’s almost like it was key lime pie smooth and creamy. You are going to love it! Get to the store, get the ingredients, and get to baking!

 

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Valentine’s Day Cheesecake

Yield 16

Ingredients

For the Crust:

• 6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• 1 cup chocolate graham cracker crumbs (about 6-7 grahams)

For the Cheesecake:

• 12 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1/3 cup plus 2 Tbsp sour cream
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
• zest from 1 lemon

For the Strawberry Coulis (Sauce):

• 2 cups frozen strawberries
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp corn starch
• 1 Tbsp COLD water

Instructions

1. FOR THE CRUST: Pre-heat oven to 350*F. Prepare an 8" springform pan with baking spray. Pulse graham crackers in a food processor until fine crumbs. Empty crumbs into prepared springform pan. Add sugar and melted butter. Mix together until all the crumbs are wet, then press onto the bottom and 1½ inches up the sides of the pan. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside. LOWER THE OVEN to 280*F.
2. FOR THE STRAWBERRY COULIS: In a medium saucepan, heat the strawberries, sugar, and lemon juice, until the strawberries are thawed and soft. Mash the strawberries with a potato masher, then puree them smooth with a hand/immersion blender. Strain the mixture over a wire sieve, to catch some of the foam and seeds. Clean saucepan and return the strawberry liquid to it over medium heat. In a small bowl, combine the corn starch and COLD water creating a slurry. Wait until the strawberry liquid comes to a boil and then add the corn starch slurry. Let it boil and thicken up. Remove from heat and place the saucepan on a hot pad in the fridge for 10 minutes or more to cool slightly.
3. FOR THE CHEESECAKE: Using your food processor, process the cream cheese until smooth. Add the sour cream, egg, sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Process again until smooth and fully combined, scraping the bowl as necessary.
4. TO ASSEMBLE: Wrap the outside of the springform pan with a double layer of foil. (The cake bakes in a water bath, and doing this will help keep water from seeping into the cake as it cooks.) Spread the cheesecake batter into the chocolate crust shell. Carefully jiggle the pan to even out the top and release any air bubbles.
5. Fill the strawberry sauce into a squeeze bottle with a tiny tip and begin to pipe small circles in a swirl pattern over the cheesecake (larger dots on the outside, smaller dots as you go inward.) Save the extra strawberry sauce for serving. Take a toothpick or sharp pointy knife, and beginning in the center circle, run the toothpick through the center of each circle being careful to NOT lift the toothpick until you have finished the very last circle.
6. Place the cheesecake into a slightly larger roasting pan or baking dish, place it in the oven and carefully pour hot water halfway up the sides of the springform pan. (The water bath helps prevent cracks and helps evenly cook the cheesecake; although you can see in my pictures that the cheesecake cracked where the hearts are. That actually happened when I moved the cheesecake off the base of the pan onto a plate. So don't ruin your cheesecake like I did, and keep it on the base of the springform pan.) BAKE at 280*F for a little over an hour, until the edges look set, and the center jiggles slightly. Turn the oven off and keep the cheesecake in there for 2 hours. Remove cheesecake from oven, take the foil off the pan and let it finish cooling in the refrigerator for 2 more hours. Cut with a hot knife for crisp, clean slices. Serve with extra Strawberry Coulis.

Recipe Notes

© DESSERT NOW DINNER LATER All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-create the recipe, snap YOUR OWN PHOTO and re-write the recipe in YOUR OWN WORDS, or link back to this post for the recipe.

 

Recipe adapted from A Cup of Sugar … A Pinch of Salt

If you follow me on instagram you might recognize this next picture. Want to know why it looks perfect and the all my pictures above have cracks? I am so bummed about it actually. The original recipe wanted you to put the berry sauce on the bottom of the crust and then the cheesecake filling with the dots and heart swirl. Well, it made the bottom of the crust soggy, so when I went to move it off the bottom of the springform pan, it cracked where some of the hearts were. Bummer! So, I adjusted the recipe for you all so you should not have problems with soggy crusts or cracking! Enjoy!