Last week a friend of mine asked if I could make a key lime cheesecake for her mom’s birthday. I have made cheesecakes before but never a key lime one. So obviously I took it as a personal challenge. Because this is for a “birthday cake” we only admired it and took pictures. No actual tasting was done except for licking the spatula after the cheesecake went into the oven. But here are a few of the reviews, taken verbatim from my friend’s text messages: “Marry me and make me fat.” “The perfect amount of tart.” “Mom licked the plate.” In my humble opinion, one of the greatest compliments you can give to a chef is licking the plate. Oh and Ryann laid the guilt trip so thick on this one because I wouldn’t allow him a taste. So much so that I had to buy him 4 donuts…
Ingredients for crust:
- 1.25 cups of graham cracker crumbs – usually about 15 squares
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 0.25 cup (0.5 of standard stick) unsalted butter, melted
Ingredients for cheesecake filling:
- 1 lb. (2 standard sticks) cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
- 0.75 cup Key lime juice (you can substitute with regular lime or you can also check either the juice or liquor aisle for bottled key lime juice. Don’t get the margarita mix – that’s for another party, just key lime juice!)
- Zest from 2 fresh limes (or key limes)
- 0.5 cup sour cream
- 0.5 teaspoon vanilla
- 2.5 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 0.25 teaspoon salt
- 3 large eggs
Ingredients for topping:
- 1 large firm-ripe mango
- 0.5 cup chilled heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon sugar
Direction:
- Make crust: Preheat oven to 350°F. Confession time: I currently do not own any springform pan, which is kind of necessary for this recipe. So I lined an 8-inch cake pan with parchment paper. If you do have springform pan (preferably 9-inch in diameter), butter the bottom and sides. If it’s non-stick, then no need. Set this aside. In a medium bowl, stir together the crumbs, sugar, and melted butter until well combined. Press them evenly to the bottom and up the sides of the pan, about a third of the way. Bake the crust in the oven for about 8 minutes, then take out and let it cool.
- While the crust cools, make your filling: beat softened cream cheese with an electric mixer until fluffy. Then, add in the sugar and beat until well combined and the sugar is dissolved. Add key lime juice, zest from one of the limes, sour cream, and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Mix in flour and salt at low speed, scraping down the sides of your mixing bowl as needed. Lastly, add in the 3 eggs all at once and mix until everything is incorporated.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 325°F, then pour the filling into the crust and set the springform pan in a shallow baking pan. Another confession time: I baked this in a water bath because that’s usually how I bake cheesecake, but as it turns out you don’t really need that water bath. I think setting the pan in another baking pan here is simply to catch any potential runoffs. In any case, because I used a regular cake pan, there was no risk of having the water seep in. If you are using a springform pan, I recommend tightly wrapping the bottom half in foil to prevent water seepage. Alternatively, just bake it as is, no water bath needed.
- Bake until cake is set in the center, which should take about 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes. Cool completely in the pan on a rack. After the cake is cooled, refrigerate for a few hours or overnight before adding topping.
- Peel mango and slice very thinly lengthwise. Tip: use a vegetable peeler to get thin slices. Be careful when slicing because peeled mangoes are very slippery. Beat heavy cream with sugar until stiff peaks, then spread over the top of the cooled cheesecake. Take each mango slice and roll them up into a tight curl. Stick them on the whipped cream in a circular pattern to decorate. If your mango slices aren’t thin enough to create this, then feel free to just lay them decoratively however you see fit. Final step: sprinkle zest from the other lime as a final garnish.
A Dash of Yoyo 