I'm late! I'm late! For a very important date... (1. being the posting date of the DB Cheesecake and 2... well... you'll get the significance of 2 in a minute).
Once upon a time, I was dining at Market Table in NYC in honor of Jack's birthday. I rarely order dessert (I know, bad baker, support my people!) but since this was a special occassion, I went for it. I order Maida Heatter's Polka Dot Cheesecake.
Now, this was long before the days where I found my passion for baking. So due to my lack of knowledge about baking and famous bakers, I thought this was just a funny way to spell "Mad Hatter" because it's about Alice in Wonderland and they do crazy things like spell names wrong and have cheesecakes with polka dots in them, right?
Wrong. Turns out Maida Heatter is a famous baker who has quite the resume and is described as "The First Lady of Desserts".
That is quite the title. I'd like to live in a country where Maida Heatter is First Lady, Dorie Greenspan is President, Maida Heatter is the First Lady, Johnny Iuzzini is Vice President and David Lebovitz is Secretary of State. Then Tom Colicchio, Eric Ripert, Alice Waters, Daniel Boulud, David Burke and Anthony Bourdain would round out the cabinet.
It would be the tastiest country ever.
And ever since that fateful day at Market Table, I have dreamt of this cheesecake. The cheesecake was pure perfection. Smooth. Rich. Velvety. And has left an impression on my mind, even 3 years later.
So when I saw that Jenny from Jenny Bakes chose Cheesecake for this month's Daring Bakers Challenge, I lept with delight! I can finally try my hand at polka-dotting my cheesecake.
If I attempted making this cake 3 years ago when I first discovered it, sweat would have been falling from my brow, my hands would have been shaking, lumps would have remained in the batter, and the cheesecake would somehow have been burnt on top but liquid in the middle.
I'll tell you, it's true.
But after two years of practice, I whipped this bad boy up in about 20 minutes, flat.
Smooth cream cheese base. Perfect crust. Outstanding taste. And when I say outstanding, I mean outstanding.
Here are the comments from co-workers:
Exceptional.
Holy God.
Ooooooooh.
Best Cheesecake I have ever had.
I'm stealing a slice to take home.
Outrageous.
You should put liquor in the chocolate part so you can get liquor filled bites of dots (HOLLA!)
Kraftius and Nabiscoevitus were on my side this time. And they will be forever more, tiny kitchen or not.
POLKA DOT CHEESECAKE
Adapted from Abbeys Infamous Cheesecake and Maeda Hatter's Polka Dot Cheesecake Recipe
CRUST
1 3/4 cups Graham Cracker Crumbs
1/2 stick butter, melted
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
CHEESECAKE
2 lbs cream cheese
1 3/4 cup sugar
4 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. almond extract
2 oz. bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Fill a large roasting pan with warm water and set aside.
Mix together the crust ingredients and press into an 8" springform pan (I used a 9" because that was all I had, but I wish I had an 8" so it would have been taller). Press crust along the bottom of the pan (do not press to the sides). Bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Set aside and let cool as you make the cheesecake.
Place cream cheese in the bowl of a stand-mixer and beat on medium speed with a paddle attachment for several minutes until smooth, scraping sides and bottom often to incorporate all cream cheese. When the cheese has been mixed well, add the vanilla and almond extracts and sugar and beat well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, until just combined. Do not overbeat.
Remove 1/3 of the cheesecake mixture and place it in a separate bowl. Pour the remaining cheesecake mixture into the prepared pan and set aside.
Combine melted chocolate and the cheesecake mixture until incorporated fully. Place chocolate mixture in pastry bag fitted with a plain #6 tip (1/2 inch) (or you can use a Ziploc bag with the end clipped). Working at table height (you will have more control than at counter height), plunge the tip of the tube in the center of the top of the cake,
inserting it only slightly into the cake. Squeeze out some of the chocolate
mixture. It will form a ball (tennis ball – or golf ball-size, precise and
perfectly round) in the cake and will leave a dark polka dot about 2 inches
wide on the top of the cake.
Then, using the same
procedure, squeeze out six balls around the rim. In order to space the six
balls evenly, place the first one at twelve o’clock (straight up). The next at
six o’clock (straight down). Then two on each side. Doing it this way, the
chances are that the spacing will be quite even. The balls around the rim should
be smaller than the one in the center, and they should not touch each other or
the center ball. If you have some chocolate mixture left over add it to the
center ball; if you still have some left over add a bit to each of the other
balls.
The top of the cake will
not be smooth and level now, but it will level itself during baking. When
baked, the polka dot in the center will be about 2 ½ inches wide, the dots
around the rim will be about 1 ½ inches wide.
Place the cake pan into the
larger pan. Place it in the oven and pour hot water into the larger pan about 1
½ inches deep. If the larger pan is aluminum, add about ½ tsp cream of tartar
to prevent the water from discoloring the pan.)
Bake for 1 ½ hours. The top
of the cake will still be come golden brown and it will feel dry to the touch
but the cake will still be very soft inside (it will become firm when it has
cooled and been refrigerated).
Lift the cake pan out of
the water and place it on a cake rack. Cool the cake in the pan for 2 ½ hours.
Refrigerate for several
hours or overnight.
To serve, dip
a sharp knife in very hot water or hold it under running hot water before
making each cut, shake off the water but do not dry the blade. Make the irst
cut through the middle of one of the smaller dots and the second cut (the one
that will release the first portion between two of the smaller dots.
That's so neat. I love the name of this. Well done on this cheesecake. It was worth the wait!
Posted by: jenn | April 29, 2009 at 02:55 AM
Wow! Making a polka-dotted cheesecake would make sweat fall from my brow! ;-) This DB challenge was the first time I've ever made a cheesecake, so I think I'll get a little more practice in before attempted this beautiful technique...
Posted by: Mindy | April 29, 2009 at 08:00 AM
Wow - that looks wonderful! It's absolutely beautiful and sounds delicious, too. Good job on this one!
Posted by: Jen Schall @ My Kitchen Addiction | April 29, 2009 at 08:16 AM
That is such a great cheesecake. I was so interested in how you achieved perfect chocolate polka dots inside of the cheesecake. It looks absolutely amazing -- I'd really like to try making this sometime.
Posted by: Jessica | April 29, 2009 at 08:54 AM
It's darling! I love it. I'll definitely be trying this one out one of these days. I'm a humongous cheesecake fan. It must have taken some experimenting on Maida's part to figure out how to do polka dots without them blending in!!
Posted by: Lori @ RecipeGirl | April 29, 2009 at 09:12 AM
I love the polka dots! Too cute!
Posted by: Maria | April 29, 2009 at 09:28 AM
What a great post. I still get baking stage fright all the time. Congrats on your success. Btw, I'm totally down with the boozy dot scenario.
Posted by: Beryl | April 29, 2009 at 09:47 AM
I've seen a couple of polka dotted cheesecakes for this challenge, but no one explained the process as well as you did here. It actually sounds do-able and fun! :)
Great looking cheesecake.
Posted by: Amanda | April 29, 2009 at 09:51 AM
Fantastic! I LOVE the polka dots! Thanks for posting this recipe so we can all make cute polka dot cheesecake!
Posted by: Tracey | April 29, 2009 at 09:52 AM
I really enjoy cheese cake; this sounds wonderful. It will please the chocolate cheesecake lovers as well as the plain cheesecake lovers!
Posted by: Reluctant Gourmet | April 29, 2009 at 09:55 AM
The polka dots are adorable and the cheesecake sounds super delicious! excellent!
Posted by: Natasha - 5 Star Foodie | April 29, 2009 at 10:12 AM
I do believe my next cheesecake should be a polka dot one. Thanks for the great process info. I stumbled it!
Posted by: megan | April 29, 2009 at 10:14 AM
We want a polka dot cheesecake right away! What a fun idea. Thanks from Santa Barbara, s
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Posted by: vincent | April 29, 2009 at 12:45 PM
I honestly can't wait to try this recipe. Might even convert my hubby to a cheesecake lover!
Posted by: Phyllis (me HUNGRY!) | April 29, 2009 at 02:21 PM
When I looked at the title of your post and the photo, I thought the exact same thing about the Mad Hatter! Too funny. I just love the writing style on your blog :)Plus this cheesecake looks delicious!
Posted by: Carrie | April 29, 2009 at 02:51 PM
I've made Maida'a polka dot cheesecake before, and it's so amazing how it works so easily! Yours looks great!
Posted by: lisaiscooking | April 29, 2009 at 03:08 PM
lovely cheese cake wonderfull, please pwiity puease I want a slice .. :) xx
Posted by: Rico | April 29, 2009 at 03:38 PM
I made Maida's polka dot cheesecake a few months ago - it was AWESOME! Next I want to try the bull's eye cheesecake.
Congrats for not breaking a sweat while making this - it came out perfect.
Posted by: Megan | April 29, 2009 at 04:00 PM
I've never seen a polka dot cheesecake before - very impressive! And with your rave reviews, I don't think I have a choice but to try this sometime. Thanks for sharing!
Posted by: ValleyWriter | April 29, 2009 at 06:55 PM