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Carrot Cake Cheesecake
Carrot Cake Cheesecake
Crust:
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup brown sugar
carrot cake layer [3/4 size halved and modified] :
1/2 cup veggie oil [or 3/8 cup + 2 juicy prunes]
3/4 cup sugar [or Sucanat unprocessed sugar]
1 1/2 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 cup carrots, peeled and grated
1/3 cup walnuts, crumbed
1/8-1/4 cup raisins soaked in:
1/8 cup Frangelico hazelnut liqueur
cream cheesecake layer [simple soft touch cheesecake, halved]:
2 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese (light)
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 eggs, beaten
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup lemon juice [2 Tbl. limoncello]
the topping :
1 Tbl. toasted hazelnut crumbs
the crust :
Start by nuking the half stick of butter in the microwave on high about 50 seconds. Or do it the old fashioned stovetop way.
Mix the graham cracker crumbs and brown sugar and then mix in the melted butter. Dump into the bottom of a large springform pan (we used a 10 1/8 = 26cm pan) to get a lower more elegant result. Shake the crumbs around to spread them out and then press them down with a flat object, like a 1 cup measuring cup.
carrot cake layer:
Begin soaking the 1/8 - 1/4 cup raisins in the Frangelico. Peel about 3 medium carrots and food process them into fine bits. Or grate them finely the old fashioned way.
Ignoring the tedious instructions of the original recipe, start the batter by pureeing 2 juicy prunes in 1/4 cup oil in the handblender attachment cup or elsewhere, in a pathetic attempt to reduce the fat content. Dump in a large bowl.
Beat 3 eggs separately. We used the handblender attachment cup, since it was already out.
Flour is presifted these days so there is no need to sift the dry ingredients together onto the oil mixture. Besides if you substitute Sucanat for the sugar, it won't sift in since the particulate size is too big. Mix it in. However, a sifter does do a good job of scattering the other dry ingredients. Incorporate them one way or another and beat all this stuff together with an electric beater.
At this point if you did not read ahead, it will appear that something has gone wrong. This is not a batter but a dust bowl. We forgot the eggs.. Before realizing this we added in another 1/8 cup oil. Next time add half the egg mixture earlier, like in step 5. But either way it doesn't seem to matter to the batter.
Now beat in the carrot bits. Chop up the walnuts but not too finely. The handblender attachment cup works well here too. Beat them in. The walnuts.
Finally mix in the raisins and Frangelico. Looks like carrot cake batter now. Pour into the springform pan and shake it around. Spread evenly with a spatula. Set aside.
cream cheesecake layer:
Beat together the cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk. Then add the remaining egg mixture, salt, and limoncello (or lemon juice) and beat until smooth. And everybody says cheesecakes are difficult!
Pour slowly over the carrot cake layer.
the topping:
Sprinkle about 1 Tbl. of toasted hazelnut crumbs evenly around the top of the cake using your thumb and two adjacent fingers in a repeated imitation of pinching salt.
the baking and fridging:
Preheat your oven to 350° F sometime earlier than this. Bake for 50 minutes. Then check to make sure the center of the cheesecake layer is done. If so, turn off the heat and open the oven door at an angle so you can still walk around the stove doing your other kitchen activities. For about 30 minutes. This is probably unnessary.
Then remove and let cool on a rack for an hour or so.
Then refrigerate. We did this after lunch and it was done and chilled nicely for the after dinner dessert.
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