Cheescake

I was going to say this post is over a month overdue, but that's only because I keep thinking it's already September. Oops. Actually, it's only 20 days overdue. I made this cheesecake for July 31st: National Cheesecake Day. I subsequently told Leslie I would post this about 18 days ago. Here it is, FINALLY. Enjoy:





The strawberries look absolutely massive on that slice, but that's because it was a very tiny slice to begin with, and the end of it also broke off. I will say, though, the strawberries absolutely made this cake.



Graham cracker crust:
From The Good Housekeeping Cookbook
-1 cup graham cracker crumbs (8 rectangular crackers)
-3 T. melted butter of margarine
-2 T. sugar

-In the cookbooks it says to mix everything initially in the pan, but I did it in a separate bowl. After all the crumbs are evenly moistened, pour into the springform pan (which should already be ready with the foil--see my note at the bottom of the page) and press it firmly onto the bottom of the pan with your hand. Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees, and cool the pan completely on a wire rack.

Cheesecake:
Adapted from Mike's Table
-24 oz. cream cheese at room temperature (I actually used neufchatel cheese)
-1 cup sugar
-3 eggs at room temperature
-1 cup heavy cream
-juice of 1/2 lemon
-1 Tbsp vanilla extract
-3 oz bittersweet chocolate
-1 Tbsp cocoa powder

-Beat the cream cheese and sugar until it reaches a light texture. Add the eggs one at a time and beat between each addition. Add the cream, lemon, juice and vanilla. Beat the batter, but be careful not to overbeat since it can cause too much air.
-I divided the batter in half and added the chocolate chips ---EDIT: I remember now that I actually did NOT use chocolate chips but very fancy Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate because I also read it's good to use high quality choclate for cheesecake. I think I read it somewhere on the internet, and I always trust the internet. EDIT OVER---(the original recipe says to microwave, mix, microwave until it's melted, but I always just use a double boiler. I feel like it's easier for me to keep an eye on it that way. Let the chocolate cool slightly before you add it). Then beat in the cocoa powder.
-I added the chocolate batter first, and then tried to add the plain. In my head I pictured perfect layers of two flavors, but the vanilla kind of just sunk in the middle. It still turned out ok, but not exactly how I pictured it.
What to do to bake (I think a bulleted list will work better than actual sentences):
-Water bath
-Oven at 350 degrees, bake for about 50 minutes (just keep an eye on it to see if the edges start to firm, but the center should still be a little jiggly.)
-Once the edges and middle look how they should, turn off the heat, but keep it in the oven for another hour.
-After the hour was up, I still kept it in the oven for another 30 minutes with the oven door ajar.
-Cool for another hour, then refrigerate for at least 8.

I forget where I found these tips now, but a couple useful things I found:
-line the bottom of the spring form pan with foil, then assemble the pan. Wrap more foil around the whole thing to ensure the water bath doesn't leak in.
-tap the pan to make sure you get all the air bubble out.
-make sure when you take out the cheesecake it's in a non-breezy area, and also run a knife around the edge of the cake when you take it out of the oven to prevent cracks.