recipe today is for desert

This week I'm going back to a desert that I've actually won an award with. Nothing big, local pot luck that awards prizes for the dish that receives the most number of votes and I won the desert category. The original recipe was was found on the Food Network website and I am siting the original provider of the recipe. I am not user his/her directions though, for the most part.

If I'm telling someone how to bake something, I prefer to tell them the way that I would do it and not just rely on the generic descriptions usually provided.

This week I am providing a recipe for Marble Cheesecake

Marble Cheesecake

Recipe courtesy Gale Gand (found on Food Network (foodnetwork.com)
Ingredients
For the crust:
4 ounces chocolate cookie crumbs
2 tablespoons melted butter
For the filling:
2 1/2 pounds cream cheese, room temperature
1 3/4 cups sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 yolks
5 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup sour cream, plus 1/4 cup
6 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted and slightly cooled

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Grease a 10-inch spring form pan.

If you choose to buy chocolate cookies and crush them you may want to use a rolling pin with the cookie crumbs in a sealable plastic bag to crush them. However, I generally will purchase chocolate cookie crumbs (in the baking aisle of your super market).

Use a double boiler or heat resistant bowl and place over a pot of simmering water and melt the 6 ounces of chocolate, when fully melted set it aside to cool

Melt the butter (you can microwave it to melt it but watch it so as not to over do it) or in a small saucepan on the stove. Pour the melted butter over the cookie crumbs and stir with a fork to blend them then press the blended mixture into the bottom of the pan, and chill.

Into the bowl of a table mixer with a whisk attachment or a hand held mixture with a large bowl, place the softened cream cheese and whip it. Add the sugar, a little at a time, continuing to mix until all the sugar is blended with the cream cheese.

In a separate bowl shift together the dry ingredients, blending the flour and salt then add this to the cheese mixture and blend thoroughly to incorporate all the flour. Add the yolks and eggs gradually, scraping the bowl down as you go. Add the vanilla and then add 3/4 cup of the sour cream and mix in. Take off 2 cups of the mixture and set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk the remaining 1/4 cup sour cream with the cooled melted chocolate then whisk into it, the reserved 2 cups of filling.

Pour a layer of the vanilla filling into the bottom of the pan about 1-inch thick. By large spoonfuls, alternate the plain filling and the chocolate filling to fill the spring form pan. Using the flat face of an icing spatula (or a butter knife), swirl the 2 batters slightly to marbleize it.

Bake at 450 degrees F for 15 minutes, then turn the oven down to 250 degrees F and bake for 1 more hour. Then, turn the oven off and let it cool in the oven 1 hour. The cake will still shimmy, but it is done, it will set up as it chills.

Refrigerate the cake overnight.

Remove from the spring form pan, slice with a hot, dry knife, and serve.

If the cake cracks while baking (crevices on the surface) it’s largely a moisture issue with your oven. Place a pan with water in the oven while baking to avoid this.