Very Berry Cheesecake

Raspberry Cheesecake ice cream is Chad's favorite so when I saw this recipe on Allrecipes I thought I'd make it instead of a cake for his birthday. I even included my meager attempt at photographing it. Next time I won't do it on my cluttered avocado counters. Kelton rated it as "so good cake!"


Very Berry Cheesecake

40 vanilla wafers, crushed
6 T. butter, melted
2 (8 oz) pkgs cream cheese, softened
3/4 c. sugar
2 T. flour
2 tsp. vanilla
1 c. cottage cheese, creamed (or I think you could use ricotta and skip the creaming part)
1/4 c. juice (the recipe called for cherry brandy - I used a guava/raspberry one, or you could do o.j.)
3 eggs
3 1/2 c. berries (blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, boysenberries, or chopped pitted cherries)
1 T. juice
1 T. sugar

Preheat the oven to 375. In a medium bowl, stir together vanilla wafer crumbs and butter. Press the mixture into the bottom and partway up the sides of an 8 inch springform pan. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Beat in the 3/4 c. sugar, flour and vanilla with an electric mixer until smooth. Set aside. Place cottage cheese in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Stir into cream cheese mixture. stir in the juice. Beat in eggs on low speed just until combined (you do not want to incorporate too much air).

Place pan on a cookie sheet with sides. Pour half the cream cheese mixture into the pan. Spread 1 cu of the fruit on top. Pour in remaining cheese mixture and sprinkle 1/2 c. fruit on top of that.

Bake 40-45 minutes or until the center appears nearly set when shaken. Cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Loosen sides. Cool completely on wire rack. Cover and chill for at least 4 hours, or until ready to serve.

For topping, in a medium bowl combine remaining berries, juice and sugar. Cover and let the juices draw for up to 2 hours. Top each slice of cheesecake with berries.