Queen of Tarts Caramel cheesecake
Source of Recipe
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List of Ingredients
Crust:
1 bag (1/2 of a 6-ounce box) zwieback
1/4 cup sugar
6 tablespoons melted butter
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Filling:
3 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons pure vanilla
4 large eggs
3/4 cup sour cream
Caramel glaze:
1 cup sugar
2 cups whipping cream
8 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons pure vanilla
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
Chocolate curls:
6 ounces semisweet chocolate
Also: Powdered sugar for dusting top of finished cake
Crust: Place zwieback, sugar and butter in food processor. Blend until smooth. Add pecans and gently blend. Press into bottom of 9-inch springform pan.
Wrap outside of pan with aluminum foil, pressing foil tightly against sides of pan. Bake in preheated 350-degree oven for 5 to 7 minutes or until crust is hard. Remove from oven and set aside.
Filling: Using a food processor or an electric mixer, blend cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and eggs until smooth. Add sour cream and mix well. Pour into prepared crust. Place foil-wrapped pan into a larger pan and fill larger pan half-full with hot water.
Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for approximately 1 1/2 hours. Turn off oven. Allow cheesecake to cool inside oven for 2 to 3 hours. Remove from oven and remove foil from around outside of pan. Refrigerate cake overnight.
Caramel glaze: In a heavy saucepan, heat sugar over medium heat, stirring constantly, until sugar caramelizes and becomes golden. (This takes about 15 minutes. You will smell the sugar heating before it actually begins to melt. Watch closely -- the sugar will burn quickly.)
Heat cream to boiling point. While stirring, slowly add to sugar. (It is important to heat the cream before adding to the hot sugar. I didn't and ended up with a pot of crystallized sugar. It did correct itself. As the cream heated, the sugar dissolved and it was OK but I was concerned.)
Cook sugar and cream over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it begins to thicken, approximately 15 to 20 minutes. (I used a thermometer and cooked it to 220 degrees.) Remove from heat.
Add butter, vanilla and corn syrup. Blend well. Allow caramel to cool to room temperature. It should be very thick and soft.
Chocolate curls: In a heavy pan over hot, not boiling, water, melt and stir chocolate. When completely melted, pour onto a stainless steel cookie sheet and smooth across surface of pan. You should have a fairly thin layer. Refrigerate until chocolate is hard.
Using a 2-inch putty knife, push knife against chocolate until chocolate curls. Remove curls from pan and hold on plate in freezer until ready to use. (This is not as easy as it sounds, so if you are not successful on the first try, do not give up. I have been trying for years and still have not conquered the technique. The chocolate is either too cold, so it cracks, or too warm, so it melts. A few curls are all I seem to manage.)
To assemble: Run knife around inside edge of springform pan. Remove sides of pan. Leave cake on bottom of pan.
Place cake on a serving plate that's larger than the cake bottom.
Pour caramel glaze over top of cake and smooth to edges, letting caramel drip over sides of cake. (If you have any left, save it for ice cream.)
Pile chocolate curls on top of caramel in mounds over entire top of cake. Lightly sprinkle powdered sugar over chocolate curls.
Makes 16 to 20 servings.
Recipe
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