Chocolate-Swirled Cherry Cheesecake
Like good cheesecake makers, we had episodes of the Golden Girls playing on the TV, nonstop, while we made this deliciousness. Sure, we could have made a decent cheesecake without Dorothy, Rose, Blanche and Sophia — but really, why would we want to?
This cheesecake has swirls of chocolate, a chocolate graham-cracker crust and loads of cherries piled on top. What this means is that it’s sublime.
Chocolate-Swirled Cherry Cheesecake
Make the crust: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a blender or food processor, blend 9 graham crackers with 1/4 cup of sugar and 2 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder until crumby. Mix in 6 tablespoons of melted butter and pulse until completely incorporated. Butter the sides and bottom of a 9-inch spring form baking pan. Place half the crumb mixture in the pan and rotate the pan so the crumbs cover and stick to the buttered sides. Place the remaining crumbs on the bottom of the pan and press them down to form a bottom crust. Bake for 10 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack while you make the cheesecake filling.
Make the filling: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. In a large bowl with a hand mixer or a stand mixer, cream together three 8-ounce packages of cream cheese and 1 1/2 cups of sugar until the sugar is dissolved into the cream cheese — about 2 minutes — scraping down the sides of the bowl several times in the process. Add 1 1/4 cups of sour cream, 1 teaspoon of lemon juice, and 4 teaspoons of vanilla, and mix until smooth. Gradually add six eggs, one at a time, while mixing on slow speed, until they are fully incorporated into the filling. Pour 3/4 of the batter into the cooled crust. With the remaining 1/4 of the batter, mix in 3 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder until smooth and incorporated. Drop spoonfuls of the chocolate filling on top of the white filling. Run a table knife across the top, making a marbleized pattern (or any kind of pattern you want, really). Make a water bath for the cake by placing the spring form pan inside another, larger pan (a large roasting pan works really well) and carefully adding water to the large pan to within about 1 inch from the top of the spring form pan’s rim. Bake in this water bath for 75 to 90 minutes, or until the center of the cheesecake is softly set when jiggled gently. Remove from the water bath and cool on a wire rack for 1 to 2 hours. Then, refrigerate for 3 hours, or overnight, until completely cooled. Release the cheesecake from the spring form pan, and spread one 21-ounce can (2 1/2 cups) of no-sugar added cherry pie filling. Refrigerate the cheesecake again for at least 8 hours before cutting and eating.
Note: For clean slices, dip your knife in warm water before each cut.
Another note: This cheesecake can be stored in the refrigerator for two to three days. If you won’t be eating it in that time, it freezes nicely, too. If freezing, defrost for 8 to 10 hours before eating.
You could have made a decent cheesecake without the help of Rose, Blanche, Sofia, and Dorothy, but could you have made an extraordinary one? I think not.