Tiramisu Cheesecake

I try to make really special cupcakes for my teachers' assistants. It's my way of showing them I am thankful for all of the help they give me during the school. Since it was my birthday...Woo Hoo,  I decided to make something special for myself.

The cupcake that was the biggest hit with my TAs was the tiramisu cupcake. I'm not sure whether it's the drizzle of coffee over the cupcake (yes, I'm sorry... I give my students coffee... They drink it anyway) or the mascarpone whipped frosting on top. Either way, it's not too sweet and totally delicious. 

I knew I didn't want cupcakes and the bakery near us has a wonderful tiramisu cake so I wasn't going to make that. Then it came to me tiramisu cheesecake. Of course, then I had to figure out how I was going to make it. It might sound weird, but people make cheese cakes many different ways. The base is always cream cheese but some people add sour cream or heavy cream. It depends on what you like. So then I had to figured out whether I was going to add sour cream or heavy cream. Use lady fingers or a cookie crust and so on and so forth.

In the end, I decided I would use lady fingers because what is tiramisu without lady fingers? I also decided to add sour cream. Typically, I would not add sour cream to my cheesecake mixture but I really wanted it to be light despite all of the layers and elements.

Tiramisu Cheesecake

Makes 12 servings

Ingredients

6 oz Lady Fingers

3 packages of 8oz cream cheese

8 oz of tiramisu mascarpone

½ cup of sour cream

1 cup of sugar

1 tablespoon of vanilla

4 tablespoons of flour

3 eggs
½ cup of Kahlua
½ cup of strong coffee

½ cup marsala wine

4 tablespoons of butter

4 tablespoons of cocoa powder for dusting

pinch of salt

Supplies: Mixer and spring form pan.

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place a large oven safe pan of water in the bottom of the oven.

Remove cream cheese from the refrigerator to soften. Grease spring form pan with butter.

Warm coffee, Kahlúa (or any coffee liquor) and marsala wine in a pot until it begins to boil. No worries moms ...cooking helps to intensify the overall flavor and boils off the alcohol. 

Let the mixture cool.

Place ½ of a cup of coffee mixture aside to incorporate into cream cheese mixture later.

In a bowl or stand mixer add cream cheese and sugar; on medium speed mix until smooth (about 4 minutes).

Scrape the sides of the bowl. Add marscapone, sour cream and vanilla; mix for another 4 minutes. 

Scrape the bowl, add flour and a pinch of salt; mixed until well combined. 

Lastly add eggs one at a time and mix on medium speed. 

Scrape the sides of the bowl. If you are using a stand mixer make sure you scrape the bottom of the bowl. Large clumps of cream cheese sometimes are hiding there.

 Then add coffee mixture and blend until incorporated.

Dip the lady fingers in coffee mixture. Be careful not to drown the lady fingers. If left too long the biscuits will absorb all of the liquid. Press the lady fingers into the bottom of the springform pan.

Place remaining lady fingers along the side of the springform pan with the flat side facing inward. Space lady fingers evenly apart around the sides of the pan.

Finally, pour the cream cheese mixture into the springform pan.

Bake the cheesecake for 45 minutes until the edges have set and the center jiggles just a little.

Turn the oven off and open the oven door. Allow the cheesecake to sit in the oven for an additional 20 minutes.

Let the cheesecake cool in the fridge for at least 4 hours.

I was pleasantly surprised with this recipe. The sour cream really did make it nice and light and the flavors were perfect. Nothing too over powering and a velvety texture. Happy Birthday to me!