Salted Caramel Spilled All Over Cheesecake
Our rating: 4.6 / 5 
April 13th, 2008
Seriously, you gotta see the animation
All things taste better drenched in salted caramel sauce… at least sweet things that is! While this cheesecake was freaking great on its own, the salted caramel just took the experience to a whole different dimension.
Every year when a certain friend of ours with an insatiable sweet tooth comes to visit we always make her a birthday dessert. Every year she asks for croquembouche and this year I finally said yes to making it. I had started my research and was nearly ready to begin baking when I received a call from our friend letting me off the hook. While I think she was feeling guilty for getting me to agree to make a laborious, traditional french wedding cake for her amusement…er, enjoyment, she claims that what she was really craving was cheesecake… cheesecake and caramel sauce! Two of my favorite sweet things ever. I couldn’t deny my friend what she really wanted, could I? So here we have it. Plain decedent cheesecake topped with gooey salted caramel sauce.
For the filling
3 (8oz) packages of Philadelphia cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tbsp good vanilla extract
3 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
For the crust:
about 1/2 a box of Nilla wafers
1 stick (1/2 cup)unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Make the crust: In a food processor, blend the Nilla wafers until finely ground. Add the rest of the ingredient for the crust. Pulse the food processor until all ingredients are fully incorporated and small clumps appear.
Pour the cookie mixture into a 9-inch spring form pan. Evenly spread the crumb mixture around the pan then, using a flat bottomed measuring cup or glass, firmly press down on the mixture working all the way around the pan and up the sides to create an evenly thick crust.
Bake at 350 for about 15-20 minutes or until crust begins to turn golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack for half an hour before adding filling to the crust.
Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. Make sure the highest rake is positioned in the middle of the oven.
While the crust is cooling, make the filling: Add the softened cream cheese to a large mixing bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat the cream cheese with an electric beater or stand mixer at medium speed until nice and workable, about 2 minutes. Add the sugar and continue to beat at medium until fully creamed together, another 1-2 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and beat until thoroughly combined and smooth.
Once the crust has cooled, pour in the filling and spread evenly through out the crust using a rubber spatula.
Place the cheesecake into a large roasting pan. Add enough water to the roasting pan to go halfway up the side of the spring form pan to create a water bath , being careful not to pour water into the cheesecake itself! Bake the cheesecake at 325 degrees for about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours, until completely set.
Carefully remove the pan from the oven and the spring form pan from the roasting pan. Allow the cheesecake to cool on a wire rack for at least 1 hour. Transfer the cheesecake to the refrigerate and chill for at least 12 hours before serving. Goes great with salted caramel sauce. Enjoy!
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
2 tsp kosher salt
3/4 cup plus 1 tbsp heavy cream
Add the sugar, salt, and water to a 2 quart or larger non-stick sauce pan. Place the pan over medium heat. Stir the mixture continuously until nearly all of the sugar has dissolved into the water to create a nearly clear solution.
Raise the heat to high. Boil the sugar and water mixture over high heat until it reaches a solid shade of amber swirling the pan occasionally. Do not stir the mixture while it’s boiling. Do not try to touch the mixture. Some of the worst burns involve boiling sugar. This process will take a while, 10-15 minutes maybe, but do not walk away from the boiling sugar. Once the color starts to change it doesn’t take long to go from deep amber to burnt nasty sugar.
Once the deep amber color has been achieved remove the pan immediately from the heat and turn off the burner. Add the heavy cream to the pan. Be careful because the mixture will violently bubble up. Once the caramel has finished bubbling, place the pan back onto the turned off but still hot burner. Stir continuously with either a rubber spatula until all of the caramel has dissolved into the cream. While stirring make sure to scrape the bottom and corners of the pan so that all of the hiding caramel is incorporated.
Allow the caramel to cool for at least 30 minutes before eating or transferring to a different container. If making in advance, allow the caramel to cool completely before placing in an airtight container. I like to put all of my caramel sauce into squeeze bottles for easy application in the future. Caramel sauce can last, refrigerated for a couple of weeks. Before using, either warm the sauce or allow it to come to room temperature. Enjoy (thoroughly)!
April 13th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
Seriously. Those look Fabulous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
April 13th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
That’s some seriously cool dripping caramel animation!! I just want to dive face-first into that gooey dessert. I’m a “plain cheesecake” kinda gal, but that caramel sauce will have to top my next one. Yum.
April 13th, 2008 at 11:25 pm
like you weren’t cruel enough with the individual image, you had to go and torture us with an animation as well!
You’re mean! That’s ‘hellavulla’ YUMMY looking!
April 14th, 2008 at 12:58 am
OMG, that looks gorgeously scrumptious! I’m drooling…
Cheers,
Rosa
April 14th, 2008 at 6:15 am
i predict that i’ll be replaying that animation in my dreams tonight. and every night. and while i’m sitting at work. and driving. (that could be bad.) you are evil and wonderful.
April 14th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
I’m not supposed to see this kind of FOOD PORN when all I have in front of me is some lousy crackers.
April 14th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
Wow! As if the photo wasn’t enough you had to go and torture us with the animated caramel! I might have to make this for Justin’s birthday next month…he’s a cheesecake fiend (and I’m all about the salted caramel)!!
April 14th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
Money Shot!
April 14th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
Ok, the caramel sauce is incredibly tempting. . . . .
April 15th, 2008 at 2:18 am
O…M…G!!! My mouth is seriously opened wide with awe, delight and the hopes that some of this dripping goodness would head my way.
This is so cooolllll!!! I watched it for almost 5 minutes….dripping caramel back and forth….dripping caramel back and forth.
It looks so great guys and your friend is so lucky to have you friends!!
April 15th, 2008 at 3:39 am
it looks so sweet…..
April 15th, 2008 at 10:25 am
ough of all things to happen! what a tragedy — don’t fret i’ll be right there to assist the clean up efforts. theeriouthly, just leave it. i GOT THIS!
April 15th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
Wow. The whole animation thing lifts your blog to a whole new level. like, fancy schmancy level. Are you sure you should still be associating with fledglings like myself??
to quote one kick-ass movie: not worthy. i’m not worthy.
and your caramel looks awesome.
April 16th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Salted caramel sounds like an odd combination, but I had it recently in fudge form and it was goooorgeous.
April 16th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
Don’t French a star fish!
April 17th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Hi There, I just stumbled accross your blog on by using stumbleupon and am loving the design! I dont normally stop at blogs relating to food as I already have 20 in my RSS feed and dont even have time to read them! I do like the design though and the use of photos is awesome. I started off blogging as well and always tried to keep a clean design like yours but it aint always easy with all the things you have to fit in! If you feel like showing off any of the cool food pics i’d love to see them on my site for foodies www.ifoods.tv so as all the other foodies can see them! Keep up the good work on the design and happy cooking!
April 17th, 2008 at 11:01 pm
Talk about food porn! woo!
Hope to see you guy’s at EC on the 27th.
April 18th, 2008 at 8:53 am
*drools*
April 21st, 2008 at 1:35 am
Never heard of this one before, but man, am I tempted… It looks delicious.
April 21st, 2008 at 8:19 pm
what the! pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease invite me over to eat this someday.
April 23rd, 2008 at 8:18 pm
yest, I agree. All things do taste better with caramel sauce. Dang, that looks good…
April 24th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Animated salted caramel sauce??!! Amazing. So mean to torture us with such deliciousness!
April 28th, 2008 at 11:37 am
I’m drooling all over my keyboard - that looks amazing. I’m in the process of printing the recipe out with a trip to Kroger in mind.
Thanks for what’ll be an unforgettable snack for watching The Bachelor with tonight (guilty addiction, I confess).
April 29th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
I just tried your caramel sauce yesterday….YUMMMM!
I have just one question, what temperature did you go to before taking the pot of the heat to add the cream. I went to a “soft ball” on the candy thermometer and it turned out too light, any suggestions?
April 30th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
sorry for not commenting back to everyone else yet! i’ll try to get to it soon! i’ve been MEGA lazy lately.
rachel- you know, i have made caramel tons of times but i have never actually used a thermometer when making it! i guess that means i can’t give you an exact temperature. for caramel sauce i go for a pretty deep amber color before i remove it from the heat then immediately add the cream. i hope that helps! maybe i’ll try to find a color swatch that looks pretty much the color i try to achieve!
April 30th, 2008 at 11:29 pm
Oh my!!! That looks absolutely incredible and the video..well yeah, that’s just cruel! I know what I plan to make sometime in the not too far off future!
May 1st, 2008 at 2:30 am
Looks Fantastic! I cannot wait to try this recipe.
May 2nd, 2008 at 7:28 pm
Man, that must be some moooldy cheesecake by now!!
May 4th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
I’m going to email you links to some other animation that your dribbly caramel made me think of, maybe you can use them on you blog
May 5th, 2008 at 10:36 pm
looks funtastic!!!
Never say no to cheese…
May 6th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
wowza. that’s all i can say. i can’t even get to the recipe, am just stuck staring at the image/animation.
May 7th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
i think savory things are yummy drenched in salty caramel too - think vietnamese braised caramel pork, yum.
May 7th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Make some toast or poptarts or something, or a ketchup sandwich….Shhishhh
May 10th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Can someone come clean up this sticky, hardened, salted caramel??
May 11th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
To hell with this place, I’m going to Rachel Ray’s website!!!!!
May 12th, 2008 at 1:37 am
hehyeheheh! hell yeah bobby and heather! you guys rock! seriously, god knows how long i could procrastinate posting even though i have tons of shit to do! i would never want to loose you to rachel ray’s website! i love you guys even though i suck!
May 12th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Hi There. I have just been looking through your blog and it is excellent. I have now bookmarked it and will be a regular reader. I especially like the design and the photos. I am a blogger myself and have set up a site called http://www.ifoods.tv where bloggers and foodies can share their photos and drive traffic to their own blog. Would love to see some of your great photos on there! Keep the great work up on the blog. Cheers!
May 12th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
Maybe I should have used our dinner tonight as a guest host kind of thing, like when Joan Rivers did the tonight show, and no it was not pleasant, and yes worse than Jay Leno. Anyway, off that tangent, have I told you I made Muscadine vinegar? Had it with sauteed mustard green, caramelized vidalia onions from Ponchatula, cashews, and I think cayenne pepper from a plant I had a few years ago, with sauteed mahi mahi that I “rubbed” with sea salt crushed black pepper, and chopped fennel fronds. Oh yeah, and then I drizzled a bit of rice wine vinegar on the Mahi before I plated it.
And I am going to use the Peach vin when peaches come is season, for an ice cream topping. I need to send you some pics of the yard.
May 12th, 2008 at 10:35 pm
Come back!
May 13th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
You’ve taken food porn to a whole new level wth the animation. Cheesecake looks divine!
May 15th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
that is a dangerous photo.
May 17th, 2008 at 9:22 am
Amanda - I had to stop by and tell you that I used your caramel sauce recipe for Mother’s Day and it was fantastic! All of the adults enjoyed it on their cheesecake, and the kids (who somehow don’t like cheesecake - can you imagine?) ate it with their ice cream. I can also agree that it was surprisingly easy to make.
June 15th, 2008 at 9:07 am
Love the animation! congrats on FPD - love the photos
June 24th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
try this fabulous recipe
http://www.goodrecipes.com.au/index.php?option=com_recipebookpro&func=detail&Itemid=7&id=6779&catid=0