Honey and Raspberry Cheesecake ----Wyoming-2

It's about that time again! What time do you ask? Oh, well remember a couple of weeks ago I posted I had purchased a new cookbook, The United Cakes of America by Warren Brown? I mentioned that I was determined to make all 50 cakes of the United States. I think this will be a really fun project and a good way to improve on my baking skills. There is a large range of cakes in this book and many of them sound very interesting. A lot of them I have never heard of but I think will be delicious, the others I am a little leery of but am hoping that they too will be great. I am not off to a good start. The first cake I made, the Lane Cake from Alabama, was an abysmal fail. I think I may have shared with you how truly aweful I found the cake. I just hope the next cake will be wonderful.

I decided not to go in order and make the Alaska cake but instead went with Wyoming. It is the last state in the book and the cake designated for this state is one of my favorite types of cakes. CHEESECAKE!  I love me some cheesecake. It just does not love me sometimes. Hee hee! I seem to always have an issue with cracking. Mr. Brown says cracking could be caused by too much air in the batter. This is from mixing your batter on too high of a speed or it could be from  not baking in a water bath with the sides of the pan at least a 1/2 in to an inch higher than the batter. This technique keeps the batter moist and the top from scorching. He recommends using a regular 9 inch cake pan with 3 inch sides instead of a springform pan. This way there will be less chance of leakage due to the water bath. I do not have a regular pan with 3 inch sides so I used my springform. I also heard from one of my fellow bakers that you did not have put the cake in the bath itself but instead could put a pan of hot water on the bottom of the oven and this would be enough humidity to keep the cake from cracking. I thought I would give this technique a try. It works for her maybe it will work for me.

Let's just say, next time I will use the pan he recommended. My cake split even though I mixed it on low and placed the pan of water on the bottom of the oven. I did not want to do the water bath because I have issues with water getting into my pan and ruining my cake in the past. I did not want a repeat of a past mistake. I did not want my hardwork to go down the drain again. I will buy the recommended pan for next time.

Even though the cake cracked it was still very good. I think I would have liked it a little more if the honey was not so pronounced. I would have liked more of the raspberry flavor in the fore front. My hubby loved it. He did however get a couple of jabs in about the cracking. Maybe he will buy me the regular pan for next time. Anyway it was all in good fun. I think he was just concerned the cake would not taste as good because of the crack. Lol:) Always thinking of his stomach, that man.

I like the cake and recommend you try it for yourself and see if you like it too!

Honey and Raspberry Cake
Warren Brown

Graham Cracker Crust
5 oz graham crackers (about 5 full crackers)
3 T of super fine granulated sugar
3/4 stick of unsalted butter melted
1/8 tsp of salt

Filling
16 oz cream cheese
16 oz fresh goat cheese
1/2 cup of super granulated sugar
1/2 c crystallized or raw honey
4 eggs
1/4 c sour cream
1/4 c heavy cream
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 c raspberry puree

Directions
Preheat oven 300F and place the rack in the middle position. Grease 9 x 3 inch round pan lined with parchment paper. Crush graham crackers in the food processors into fine crumbs. Using a fork toss all ingredients  in a bowl until evenly combined. (I cheated and used the food processors for all of the steps)

 Press the mixture into the bottom of the pan. Bake for 10 -12 minutes or until fragrant. Set aside to cool but leave the oven on while making the filling.

Place a roasting pan large enough to hold your cake pan in the oven and fill it 2/3 of the way.
In a bowl of  standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the cheeses on medium speed to break up and soften them.

Reduce the speed to low and add the sugar and honey in 2 additions each, beating until they dissolve this should take about 3 minutes.
Add the eggs one at a time until they are fully combined. Mix the sour cream, heavy cream, and vanilla together in another bowl until they are smooth.
Drizzle in slowly into the mixer.
Pour filling into the prepared crust.

Use up to a 1/4 c of the raspberry puree and swirl batter with your finger.
( I recommend a little more puree but hey that's just me)

Gently set the cake in the water bath and bake for about 1 hour or until the middle only slightly wobbles when shaken. (this took about an hour an 15 minutes for me to happen)
Turn off the oven and let it sit for about an hour with the door ajar.
Remove pan from water bath and cool the cake for 4 hours or until it reaches room temperature.

Look at the giant crack! Ehh (shoulder shrug) at least it tasted good:)

I hope I have inspired you to get up and bake.
I always hope you are having a great day!