Red, White, and Blue Cheesecake

I kinda, sorta have two jobs right now. Last year I was hired by a recruiting company called Mountain LTD to work for CenturyLink in north Seattle. Earlier this year, one of my contacts from Mountain called to say that Mountain wanted all their Engineer Assistants (my position) working from Mountain's office in Renton. I am one of two EAs who can't because everything I need is at the CenturyLink office. So we figured out a way for me and the other EA to have work to do when not in Seattle: the other EA and I each spend two days a week in Seattle.

Why am I telling you this? Because I wouldn't be posting this if that hadn't happened. One of my co-workers in the Renton office decided to have a potluck for Memorial Day on the Friday before Memorial Day. As soon as she told me about it I immediately started searching for patriotic-colored desserts. As much as I wanted to, I had to stay away from desserts with fruit since I would be doing my shopping the Saturday before and most fruit (including strawberries, the red part of the dessert) doesn't last long. I finally decided on a three "layer" cheesecake from Tablespoon, a community of and for foodies.

Red, White, and Blue Cheesecake (source)

Ingredients

CRUST

• 2 cups crushed graham crackers
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 6 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
• 1 pinch salt

FILLING

• 3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 pinch salt
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 3 large eggs
• Red and blue gel food coloring (I just used regular food coloring. It seemed to work just as well.)

Directions

1. For the crust, stir together ingredients with a fork until well combined. Pack crust ingredients into a 9-inch springform pan. Use a small measuring cup to make sure the edges are packed down well. (I just used the plastic-bag-as-a-glove method that I normally use)
2. Bake crust at 350°F for 10 minutes, then let cool.
3. For filling, add cream cheese to a stand mixer with the paddle attachment (or you can use a hand mixer). Beat until the cream cheese is very soft and fluffy.
4. Add sugar and continue to beat on medium speed until completely combined, about three minutes.
5. Add in eggs, one at a time, and continue to mix.
6. Add vanilla, salt, cream, and sour cream and stir until combined.
7. Divide filling into three even batches. Add an entire red gel food coloring packet to one bowl and an entire blue packet to another bowl. Stir well to combine. (I just squeezed the bottles and stirred until I got the colors I wanted.)
8. Pour blue layer into crust and spread evenly. Top with white layer. Carefully spoon the layer onto the blue layer so it doesn't sink into it. Use a spatula or knife to carefully spread out the the layer. Repeat with the red layer.
9. Bake the cake at 325°F in a hot water bath for 80-90 minutes until the center of the cake is just set.*
10. Turn off oven, crack the door slightly, and let cake cool slowly for an hour.
11. Transfer cake to fridge and let cool completely for 3-4 hours.
12. Remove cake from pan, slice and serve. It helps to slice the cake with a warm knife so the red white and blue layers stay clean.

*Note: I was unable to do the hot water bath as I couldn't find a pan big enough to hold my cheesecake pan in. As you can see, it didn't seem to make a difference (I did research and discovered that the hot water bath creates steam that helps the cheesecake bake evenly). I still followed steps 10 and 11 for cooling it down. I think I might try and remember this for the next time I bake a cheesecake.

At the potluck, it was somewhat of a hit. There was so much food my cheesecake didn't get all eaten. Those that tried it loved it though. One co-worker even told me I should make it again. Because I had half a cheesecake left I asked Anne if I could bring it to Matteo's birthday party the following Sunday. She said absolutely (mental note: Tay loves cheesecake). It worked out because apparently Chiara also wanted cheesecake. By the end of the night though, even after Chiara kept a couple pieces and Auntie Vicki took a piece home for Uncle Rob, there was still leftovers! However, there wasn't as much as the cola cake from Mother's Day so I was OK with bringing it home to finish.