Neopolitan Cheesecake

Taste Verdict: Success
                   Presentation Verdict: Eh                   

Neighbor-worthy

This was one of my riskier attempts at making my own dessert.  I love cheesecake and have been craving it something fierce lately.  I have already posted my margarita cheesecake, but this one was a stretch and I thought would be a good blog entry. 

This weekend I wanted to make my own marble cheesecake.  Then I thought "Ok, I'll make a strawberry-marble cheesecake for the blog".  Then I thought about trying to make a vanilla bean cheesecake.  Blah, blah, blah-I was obviously longing for a fun cheesecake-and I thought up a really fun thing to try: Neopolitan. 

Neopolitan is the ice cream choice that my parents (and probably yours) made for gatherings thinking it would cover more peoples' preferences as it is 1/3 strawberry, 1/3 vanilla and 1/3 chocolate. More times than not, we were left with a carton of strawberry 'cause no one wanted it.  That was fine with me as I hated it (SEE NOTES).  Well, I don't think that could ever be the case with cheesecake...cheesecake is just too good to avoid a flavor. 

I used this recipe for the basis of my recipe. I tweaked it by stripping it of its flavor and made the rest up as I went along. 

Ingredients:

Vanilla Simple Syrup:

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup water

1 vanilla bean split with seeds removed but reserved

Crust:

1 3/4 2 cups graham cracker crumbs

3 2 tablespoons light brown sugar

1 stick melted butter

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Cheesecake(s):

3 8oz packages cream cheese reduced-fat cream cheese
3 eggs plus one yolk
1 15oz can pureed pumpkin
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 cup sour cream reduced-fat sour cream
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 tablespoons strawberry jam
3 oz semi-sweet chocolate

Heat a small sauce pan over Medium-high heat and combine water, sugar and the stalk (pod) and seeds. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer. Stir occasionally as you cook it until the sugar has dissolved. Take off the heat and allow the syrup to cool. 

In a medium bowl, place the graham crumbs, sugar and cinnamon and mix the hell out of them.  Add the butter and mix.  Press mixture firmly into a 9" springform pan (trailing it up the sides some).

Beat the cream cheese with a hand mixer until smooth and add the sour cream and sugar, then eggs, one by one.  Add the flour and the vanilla and continue to beat until combined.  Separate into three bowls.

In a small sauce pan, melt your chocolate and allow to cool-but not long enough for it to harden.

Bowl 1: Add your chocolate and mix well.
Bowl 2: Strain your simple syrup, add 1/2 cup and mix well. 1/4 cup.
Bowl 3: Add your jam and mix well.

Pour the contents of your chocolate mix into your crusted pan first.  Chill in fridge for 10 minutes.  Then CAREFULLY layer your vanilla above on top of the chocolate and chill for 10 minutes.  Pour the strawberry upon the vanilla.  Place in the oven and bake for 1 hr.  Remove from the oven and let sit for 20 minutes.  Cover with plastic wrap and throw in the fridge for at least 4 hours. Before you pop the spring to serve, run a knife along the rim to loosen the side crust trail.  Some will fall off-no big deal.

Notes:
I love being adventurous.  This was my creation including making a vanilla cheesecake as I have never seen one nor read a recipe for one.  I had used a simple syrup in another recipe and thought "why not try it here?"
This is probably the worst presentation I have had for something I've made to date (on the blog).

No-foul Error in Judgement:
When I do this again, I will use less syrup for the vanilla.  It watered that layer down causing the strawberry to integrate with it when poured in.  It ended up tasting just fine (well, awesome actually).

Happy Accident:
**The strawberry ended up being the slightest layer which works for me.  :)


Tweaks:
I made the receipe Neopolitan
I substituted reduced-fat sour cream and cream cheese for the recipe.
I (obviously) removed the spices and pumpkin from the recipe.
I added graham cracker crumbs to yield more crust (I LOVE crust).


Any ideas for me?  themaniccheater@gmail.com.