What is this magical recipe you may ask? Orange White Chocolate Cheesecake from Taste of Home! I made this recipe last weekend to take to my parents' yearly picnic/cookout with their "Old Fart Bible Study Group" at church. And yes, that's what they call themselves sometimes...so I'm not being mean. Anyway, this dessert was seriously GONE in less than 10 minutes. It was BEAUTIFUL so everyone wanted to try it...and they all just RAVED about how wonderful it was. I must admit...it was the best cheesecake I've ever had!
I went out and bought a springform pan from Bed Bath and Beyond to do this Cheesecake. I had never used one before. I was rather shocked when the bottom dropped out while I was playing with it. I didn't know the thing came apart! I brought it home and made the dreaded crust. I...HATE...MAKING...CRUSTS! MOST crust recipies I've tried I normally have to double to get enough coverage of the pan. I was happy that this one had PLENTY of crust mixture to go around...but I just do not understand how to make the sides thick enough to stand up....yet without falling apart! Everytime I added more crust mixture to thicken the sides...the whole side fell down. Finally I got it to stick enough and was as thick as it was going to get...so I was happy. I popped it in the oven and then let it cool for a few hours while we went to dinner and to The Fresh Market!
Anyway...after I came back home I made the cheesecake filling itself. I used my Mom's KitchenAid Stand Mixer that I stole (Okay, maybe I didn't STEAL it. I BORROWED it. But she just doesn't know that I'm never giving it back!) to mix up all of the ingredients. I LOVE THIS MIXER. It makes life much easier, let me tell you! Can you believe that my mother only used it twice in the few years she's had it? I've only had it a few weeks and I've already used it like 5 times! Now I want to buy all of the accessories! It made the process so much easier! I very quickly whipped it all together and poured it into my crust and stuck it in the oven for an hour and 10 minutes. I took it out and LOOK HOW TALL IT GOT? I was shocked at the big tumor in the middle. I kept hoping that the middle would fall so that it would be a lot easier to add the frosting! (I know...since when does somebody want their cake to FALL?)
I let the cake sit and come to room temperature for two hours and then took it out of the springform pan and trimmed the sides of the crust down so it would look even and nice! I think it makes the Cheesecake look so much more "clean". The uneven sides annoyed me!
I then mixed the topping and spread it on top of the cheesecake. It gave the Cheesecake a wonderful glazed look after baking it for 6 minutes and popping it in the fridge for an hour to harden. (This picture was taken before putting it in the fridge.) This topping is what gives the Cheesecake it's orange flavor. There's NOTHING orange in the actual Cheesecake filling...just the topping! It makes the Cheesecake more light and refreshing!
After letting the topping harden for an hour I took the Cheesecake out of the fridge and decorated it with the mandarin orange segments. What a BEAUTIFUL addition! I then put it in my "cake carrier" and popped it back in the fridge overnight (the recipe says for at least 4 hours...but after all the waiting for this Cheesecake off and on....it was bed time for me!).
Overall, this was a BEAUTIFUL Cheesecake and it tasted JUST as good as it looked...if not BETTER! The filling itself was very fluffy and the topping made it refreshing and light almost. This will definitely be something I'll make again when I have A LOT OF TIME...and want to impress people!
***UPDATE*** I almost forgot the MOST important part! Well, at least to me! It the process of moving the cheesecake from the sheet pan under the spring form pan that the recipe calls for...my knuckle scraped the 450 degree pan and BAM...a blister. I nice big one too! This has inspired me to include an injury/mishap list on my blog. Please look for it and any updates to it...it is located on the right side of the page under the purple "about me" box! Enjoy seeing what a klutz I can be!
Mmm... I love cheesecake, but I don't think I've ever had an orange/white chocolate one before. It sounds great!
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