Celebration Begins With ... A Rainbow Cheesecake

Rainbow Cheesecake

The minute I saw this, I knew I had found the perfect recipe for my baby’s birthday and the perfect post for the day – Now I am not too sure how much of this my little 3 yr. old will consume, but a challenge was what I was seeking, esp. since it is also close to my blog’s 1st anniversary (Please stay tuned on Sept 24th for many wonderful giveaways) I figured it doubled the cause for celebration – I was anxious about making this on my own – So I called upon my dear and sweet friend to ask if she would help me with it – The artist that she is, she was immediately enthused by the challenge and the idea of mixing the colors of the rainbow just right and together we had plenty of fun making this! This is truly a recipe that you would find a LOT easier to make with a friend, daughter or mother because it can be a little overwhelming! Grazie mille, Fla, may not have attempted it without your help and nifty guidance!

This cake contains more fat calories than I can count, but hey, when has there ever been a celebration without a good bit of fat to cheer us up! It also goes against most of the things I strive towards –aka – healthy recipes, but a sliver thin slice would be perfectly ok! So let’s chill on this subject :)

I got my recipe from Macheesmo - I have copied almost verbatim his ingredients and his method of preparation -  Hope you enjoy my pictorial of it so that it will be easy for you to recreate! Enjoy mes amies!

Ingredients

2 Cups graham crackers, crushed (crust)

2 Tablespoons sugar (crust)

6 Tablespoons unsalted butter (crust)

1/2 Teaspoon Cinnamon (crust)

1 Pinch Salt (crust)

2 Pounds Cream cheese, room temp

1 1/3 Cups Sugar

2 Teaspoons Vanilla

4 Large Eggs

1Cup Sour Cream

1Cup Heavy Cream

1 Pinch Salt

1 Container Food colors (blue, yellow, green, red)

Preparation

1. Before you get started with the crust, make sure your spring form pan is watertight. I do this by carefully wrapping a few layers of foil on the outside of the pan, working in both directions so water cannot get into the pan. Be careful not to rip the foil or water will get into your cake and ruin it!
2. To make the crust, grind the graham crackers in a food processor until very fine. Then mix crushed crackers, salt, sugar, and cinnamon together in a bowl. Then mix in butter with your clean fingers.
3. Press all but a few tablespoons of the graham cracker mixture into the prepared spring form pan. (Save a bit of the crust mixture in case there are holes later) Press it down firmly in the pan. I like to use a measuring cup for this to make it easy to get around the edges. You should have an even, flat crust.
4. Bake the crust in a pre-heated 350 degrees oven for 10 minutes on a low rack. Remove from the oven and cool completely before continuing. Turn oven temp down to 325.
5. To make filling, cut cream cheese into pieces and add to a mixing bowl. Whip until smooth, maybe 4 minutes. Then add sugar and continue to beat until smooth again, another 4-5 minutes. Next, add salt, vanilla, and one egg at a time, beating briefly between each egg. Finally, beat in the sour cream and heavy cream.
6. Once the mixture is well combined and very smooth, divide it into 6 dishes. Add food coloring to each dish to get the desired colors.
7. Pour colored mixtures into prepared dish with cooled crust. Start with red and pour it right in the center. Continue to build the rainbow by pouring the fillings directly in the center. This will create layers so that each slice has some of each color.
8. Place cheesecake into a baking dish a fill with boiling water about 1 inch up the side of the spring form pan (pray that your dish is waterproof).
9. Bake at 325 degrees in the water bath for one hour and 45 minutes.
10. Turn off the oven, crack the door to the oven, and let the cake cool in the oven for one hour. The slow cooling will help it not crack.
11. Then loosely wrap the dish in foil so the foil isn't touching the top of the cake and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
12. When ready to remove cake, run a clean narrow knife around the edge of the dish, remove the foil, unlock the spring, and carefully lift off the outer ring.

First steps of preparation

Now the Fun begins - From Second picture on right as you view it to the center

NOTE 1: My oven was obviously either newer or more efficient that the parent site for this recipe! – So I would advise caution and let it bake for 1hr and 30mins as opposed to 1hr and 45 minutes. Luckily, the slightly browned top did nothing to mar the taste or the enjoyment of this cake.

NOTE 2: Although the pictures from my source looks PERFECT, a thicker crust might have worked better to keep the cake together while cutting – I may play around with that the next time

NOTE 3:Keep cake refrigerated overnight – Keep water and a paper towel handy while cutting the cake so that you don’t mess up the colors –

NOTE 4: Not a good idea to travel 25 minutes with this cake unless you have a freezer box/pack in which you can transport it – I took this to my baby’s school and the children liked it, I think what they enjoyed most was delving into the gooey mush that they could so easily make it – but I say not too bad for a first attemptJ

Sending this off to Friday Potluck, at Ekat's Kitchen :)

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