This cheesecake is the first cheesecake I've ever made. So, I tended to treat it as an experiment; a trial round. However, this trial round took a turn for the better, making it into the category of my more successful desserts.
A lot of people know what cheesecake is, but don't actually know what it is. Well, obviously it's made of cheese, a specific kind o cheese actually, called mascarpone. Mascarpone is an Italian cheese made from cream, and the addition of a citric acid allows the cream to split and curdle, making it a creamy, almost butter-like cheese. I tried finding it in my local grocery stores, but no one seemed to have it. So I ended up making it at home from scratch (Homemade Mascarpone Cheese: Dos and Don'ts).
You can really use any type of crust for this cheesecake; I used a simple chocolate crust made from chocolate cookie crumbs, chopped white chocolate, and butter.
The main element of the cake is made in several different additions of steps. The first step? The white chocolate part.
I realized that to have a sweet white chocolate flavour in the cake, you add in white chocolate ganache. The ganache is prepared as so: you heat your cream till it's just at a boil, then remove it from the heat. In the meantime, your chocolate should be chopped coarsely and placed in a bowl. After removing the cream from the heat, pour if over the chocolate and let it sit for a minute or so, just so it allows the chocolate to soften a bit. Then stir the hot cream with the chocolate until it is smooth and combined. Then allow it to cool for around 10-15 minutes.
This method can be done with any kind of chocolate (dark, milk, white, etc) to make a ganache.
TIP: Ganache is great for cupcake fillings or any kind of decorations. The amazing thing about it is that you can store it in the fridge, then when needed, you can heated to your desired consistency. For cupcake fillings, I would heat it until around softened butter consistency. For decorations, it's good to have a firmer ganache so that it will hold its shape.
While the ganache is cooling, you will start mixing together main components of the filling; icing sugar, cream cheese, and the mascarpone cheese. Mix the three together with an electric mixer until just combined (I like using a slow speed to assure I don't over mix it).
After mixing the eggs in, your going to whip the egg whites until you are left with soft peaks. Fold the egg whites into the filling, then fold in the raspberries as well. Don't be surprised when the raspberries sink to the bottom of the cake, they are heavier than the cheese, so naturally they will sink.
I made my crust in a pie tin; I don't advise doing this, unless you want to make two cakes with one batch of filling. What you want to make your crust in is either a cake tin or a spring-form tin, that way your cake will be thicker, and you won't have left-over mix. I, however, didn't want to make another cake, so I found alternatives to my extra filling, and even found alternative ways to use the rest of the mascarpone cheese that wasn't used. This is part one of making this cheesecake, part two will be posted within the next few days.
