Salted Caramel Cheesecake

Last weekend, I volunteered to host the “Senior Members” group from church.  While I originally expected 15-20 in attendance, I ended up with 32 people at my house for dessert.  Now I love to bake, so the hard part was deciding just what to make and how much they would eat.  I made several tried and true recipes like Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, Chocolate Bavarian Torte and a variety of cookies.  However, I decided this was a good opportunity to try this recipe that I had found for Salted Caramel Cheesecake.  I’m SO glad I did!  I loved it and it was the first dessert to completely disappear!  That’s why the pictures that you see look like smaller than usual slices.  It was the last piece left and a part of that piece had been sliced off!

Now though it isn’t complicated to make, there are several components to the recipe and it must be started a day a head of time.  Don’t let all the steps scare you off.  The time involved is totally worth it!

A creamy caramel cheesecake recipe topped with caramel sauce and chocolate ganache and a sprinkle of sea salt.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons caramel-flavored coffee syrup (I used Torani )
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 1/2 teaspoons flaky sea salt
• 1cup Semi Sweet Chocolate
• 8 ounces heavy whipping cream

• 1/4 cup cold water
• 1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
• 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Directions:

1. Grease a 9 inch springform pan.  Combine crushed Oreos and melted butter until all of the crumbs are moistened.  Press into bottom and up the sides of springform pan.  Place in freezer while you prepare filling.

1. Heat oven to 300° F
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and 1 cup brown sugar on medium speed until smooth. Beat in eggs, one at a time, just until blended. Add 3/4 cup whipping cream and 1/4 cup coffee syrup; beat until blended. Pour filling over crust.
3. Bake at 300°F 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 hour 20 minutes or until edge of cheesecake is set at least 2 inches from edge of pan but center of cheesecake still jiggles slightly. Turn oven off; open door 4 inches. Let cheesecake remain in oven 30 minutes. Run small metal spatula around edge of pan to loosen cheesecake. Cool in pan on cooling rack 30 minutes. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 6 hours or overnight.

1. In 2-quart saucepan, melt 1/2 cup butter over medium heat. Add 1 1/4 cups brown sugar and 2 tablespoons coffee syrup. Heat to boiling; cook and stir 1 minute until sugar dissolves. Stir in 1/2 cup whipping cream; return to boiling. Remove from heat. Cool 20 minutes.

1. Combine the heavy cream and the chocolate in a medium sized microwave-safe bowl. Heat it in the microwave on high for two minutes. Whisk, then place it back in the microwave for another 30 seconds and whisk. Repeat in 30 seconds intervals until the chocolate is completely melted and you can incorporate it fully into the cream. Let cool about 5-10 minutes (until it’s still pourable, but no longer hot)

1. Place 1/4 cup of cold water in a small sauce pan, then sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of unflavored gelatin. Let the gelatin soften and absorb all of the water (about 5 minutes).
2. Place pan over low heat and stir until gelatin dissolves. Let it cool off the heat while you complete the next step.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat 1½ cups cream and 2 tablespoons sugar until soft peaks form. Slowly pour in warm dissolved gelatin and mix until soft peaks reform. You won’t get stiff peaks, but this whipped cream will be perfect for pipping on top of cheesecake, pies and other desserts.

1. Remove Cheesecake from refrigerator. Pour the salted caramel sauce on top of the cheesecake (use as much as you want, then store the rest to use when serving cheesecake or for ice cream topping). Put back in fridge while you prepare the ganache.
2. Once the ganache is made and cooled, remove the cake from the fridge and pour ganache on top of the caramel layer. Put back in the fridge while you make whipped cream.
3. Place whipped cream in a pastry bag to pipe on edges of cheesecake.
4. Drizzle top of cake with caramel sauce and sprinkle with flaked sea salt.  Cover and store in refrigerator until ready to serve.

1. To serve, run small metal spatula around edge of springform pan; carefully remove side of pan. Cut cheesecake into slices. You can drizzle slices with more caramel sauce if you’d like. Cover and refrigerate any remaining cheesecake.

Recipe found at:  www.tidymom.net