Cheesecake #3 (I have yet to write #2) of that one week where I somehow ended up making 3 cheesecakes. Some context: I was speaking with my coworker about all these cheesecakes I had on the to-do list, which he related back to his wife… so when I asked him what to bring to his potluck superbowl party, of course, he replied “cheesecake”. A bit more digging revealed that his wife’s a big fan of lemon, and, like most women (or people with common sense), chocolate… and thus the wheels began turning. I had been wanting to try doing a swirled top and an even layer of something within a cheesecake, so here was my attempt. Between the chocolate, hazelnut, and lemon, this turned out ridiculously Italian. Strongly suggested to be made if you have visiting friends from the Land of the Boot.
Lemon-Nutella Swirl Cheesecake with Chocolate Blood Oranges
Ingredients (Crust):
- 3/4 cup almond-vanilla granola
- 3 packaged organic instant maple oatmeal
- zest of 1/2 a lemon & 1/2 a blood orange
- 3-5 tblspn soy butter, melted
Ingredients (Cheesecake):
- 30 oz softened (room temp) full-fat cream cheese
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup full-fat sour cream
- 1 egg (brown, cage-free, organic)
- 2/3 cup whole milk
- 1/4 cup orange-mango juice (by simply orange)
- the zest of 2 lemons
- juice of 1/2 a lemon
- zest of 1/4 of a blood orange
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1.5 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup AP flour
- 1/2 cup warmed nutella
- 3/4 cup warmed chocolate (use the double-boiler method, for dipping the orange slices)
Process:
- To make the crust: melt the butter in a medium-sized bowl. In a food processor, process together the granola and oatmeal until thin, small chunks that are soft to the touch. Add to the butter, and add in the zest as well. Mix thoroughly until a thick paste forms. If too dry, add another tblspn of soy butter.
- Line the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper and then place the crust in the bottom, pushing it up an inch around the sides and firmly pushing it into the bottom of the pan
- For the cheesecake itself: Preheat yoru oven to 360 degrees, then start by mixing together the cream cheese and sugar in a stand mixer on low speed until fluffy and well-combined. This is the most crucial step- do this out of order and your cake will have strange texture, so make sure that cheese is SOFT!
- Add in the sour cream and continue beating on the lowest speed, slowly incorporating. Beat in the egg, then add the milk, still slowly incorporating. Add the orange juice, zest, lemon juice, blood orange juice, salt, and vanilla – mix until just combined and smooth.
- Lastly, mix in the flour, until juuuuust combined. Do NOT overmix, and don’t go over the bottom speed of your stand mixer / electric mixer… you don’t want to hurry this.
- Pour half the batter you’ve just made into your prepared springform pan. Then pour the warmed nutella over the half-batter and spread it evenly, keeping about a half-inch margin around the sides of non-nutella-ness (see photos below) as it will run and expand and you’d rather it not burn against the sides. Then pour in the remaining batter.
- Take a little extra warmed nutella and pour thin ribbons of it onto the top of your cake. Then, taking a skewer/toothpick/etc, swirl this around until you get a pretty pattern.
- Into the oven it goes for an hour’s time. After an hour, turn off your oven and let the cheesecake hang out there overnight or for the next 6 hours or so. While your cake is baking, dip slices of your blood orange (the one you earlier zested and partly juiced) and coat about 3/4 of the way up. Dip them then in large-grain candy sugar, then place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and place in the freezer while your cake hangs out in the oven.
- After the cake is done oven-itizing, place the blood orange slices on top, add chocolate shavings if that wasn’t enough for you, and cool in the fridge. It’ll be ready for eating in 2-3 hours’ time.
That’s it! Quite simple once you get through my wordiness, and will quickly make you seem sophisticated and Italian. They love lemon, and after this cake, you’re likely to as well. The longer you let the cake sit in the fridge (as in number of days, not hours) the more the lemon flavour will intesify and play off the nutella as they mingle and meet, so…. eat this one slowly so you can appreciate its flavour maturing as you go. Mmmh.
