Meet Grace! + Curded (but not curdled) Lemon Cheesecake

I just realized after this post, I’ll have to start blogging by myself again. I can totally see the appeal of having a ghost-written blog. :) Kidding. I would miss you all too much. Besides, I think I’ve had plenty of time to kick back and enjoy some time away from the kitchen (literally… about 600 miles away.) Today we’re wrapping up our string of guest posts with a cheesecake, which may be my favorite way to end things: meals, parties, bad days, pregnancies, menstrual cycles… you get the idea. Grace, who blogs at A Southern Grace, has baked up “butyraceous” cheesecake for us. Grace is a baking ninja. It never ceases to amaze me how many variations and flavor combinations she comes up with in her goodies. Lemon curd on a cheesecake? Um, yes, please. With extra curd.

Here’s a new word for your everyday vocabulary: Butyraceous. How is this word not more commonly used? Heck, my spellchecker didn’t even identify it as a real word!

Thank heavens I’m a fan of the TV show Psych–there was an episode set at a spelling bee, and one of the words was butyraceous. Then it popped up in one of my favorite games. It means “having the qualities of butter,” so it’s clearly a wonderful word.*

*This is particularly appropriate for a guest post on Natalie’s blog, as she shares my appreciation for proper grammar and is one of the most punctuation-conscious bloggers I know.

This cheesecake is butyraceous, and by that, I mean it’s yellow and creamy. Sadly (or perhaps happily, since we are talking about a dessert here…), that’s where the similarities to butter end. The cake is lightly lemon-flavored and oh-so-sweet. The tart curd on top is a great way to offset some of that sweetness while still contributing to the overall smoothness of the treat.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to use the word butyraceous (byoota RAY shuss) in a sentence today.

Curded (but not curdled) Lemon Cheesecake

Ingredients:

For lemon curd:
1 teaspoon finely grated fresh lemon zest
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

For crust:
1 1/3 cups finely ground graham cracker or gingersnap crumbs (5 oz)
1/3 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For filling:
3 (8-oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
3/4 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon (packed) finely grated lemon peel
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Directions:

Make lemon curd:

Whisk together zest, juice, sugar, and eggs in a 2-quart heavy saucepan. Add butter and cook over moderately low heat, whisking frequently, until curd is thick enough to hold marks of whisk and first bubbles appear on surface, about 6 minutes.

Force lemon curd through a fine-mesh sieve into a wide shallow dish, scraping bottom of sieve, then cover surface with wax paper. Cool completely, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes.

Make and bake crust:

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Invert bottom of springform pan (to make it easier to slide cake off bottom), then lock on side. Stir together crust ingredients in a bowl, then press onto bottom and 1 inch up side of springform pan. Place springform pan in a shallow baking pan and bake 10 minutes, then cool crust completely in springform pan on a rack.

Make filling and bake cheesecake:

Reduce oven temperature to 300°F.

Beat together cream cheese and sugar in a bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low and add eggs 1 at a time, beating until incorporated. Beat in sour cream, vanilla, lemon zest, and juice until combined.

Pour cream cheese filling into crust and bake cheesecake until set 1 1/2 inches from edge but center trembles when pan is gently shaken, about 45 minutes. (Center of cake will appear very loose but will continue to set as it cools.) Transfer springform pan to a rack and immediately run a knife around top edge of cake to loosen. Cool completely, about 2 hours, then chill, uncovered, at least 4 hours. Remove side of springform pan and top with lemon curd before serving.

adapted from Epicurious.com by A Southern Grace

Desserts - Cheesecakes

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