The Friday Baking Project
Triple Layer Cheesecake

Yield: 1 8†cake

# of servings: 12 to 14

Ingredients

2 lb. cream cheese (907g) (Philadelphia brand preferred), room temperature
1 ½ cup (11 oz / 311 g) sugar

4 large eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract

½ cup heavy cream

½ cup + 1 tbl (2.6 oz / 24 g) blanched hazelnuts¹, roasted and chopped fine.

2 oz chocolate (66% to 74%), wafers or chopped, melted

â…“ cup (1.35 oz / 38 g) graham cracker crumbs

Special tools and equipment needed:

• 8†by 3†cake pan²
• 8†parchment paper circle
• Parchment paper strips, 3†high, combined 25.1†in length (the circumference of the 8†pan), optional³
• Large rectangular baker, roasting pan, or 10†cake pan (Must be large enough for the cheesecake pan to sit in, with at least 1†around all the edges, and not deeper than the cheesecake pan). 
• Hand held or free-standing mixer with paddle attachment.

Pre-recipe preparations:

• Butter the cake pan, place the parchment circle in the bottom and butter the parchment. Lightly butter the sides of the pan. 
• Optional³ – cut 3†wide strips of parchment paper totaling 25.1†in length (the circumference of an 8†circle). Line the sides of the cake pan with the strips of parchment. 
• Roast the hazelnuts. Let thoroughly cook, then chop in food processor until mostly small pieces. Do not overprocess, as the nuts will become oily. It is okay if there are few larger pieces remaining. 
• Bring water to the boil in a water kettle, set aside on stove top.
• Clear a flat space in the freezer the cake pan.
• Preheat oven to 300 °F.

Directions

1. Put cream cheese in mixing bowl and beat for one minute on low speed.
2. Add sugar and beat until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl.  Only beat as long as necessary to combine ingredients. Do not overbeat.
3. Break eggs into a liquid measuring cup or small bowl, add vanilla extract, and beat.
4. Slowly add eggs to cream cheese mixture, beating just well enough each time for a homogenous batter. The mixture should be smooth after the eggs are added.
5. Using a rubber spatula, stir in the heavy cream by hand. The batter should be the consistency of a smooth custard.
6. The batter should weigh about 48 oz. Take a little less than â…“ of the batter (14 oz) and put in a mixing bowl. Stir in the chopped hazelnuts until thoroughly blended.
7. Carefully pour the hazelnut batter into the pan.  Gently tilt the cake pan to level the batter and have it spread the sides. 
8. Place in the freezer for about 1 hour, until it feels firm enough to support the next layer.
9. In a clean mixing bowl, place a little under a â…“ (14 oz) of the remaining batter. Stir in the melted chocolate until a homogenous batter, being careful not a beat air into the mixture.
10. Remove the cheesecake pan from the freezer and pour in the chocolate batter. Tile the pan to spread the batter evenly. Freeze for about 50 minutes, or until the batter feels firm enough to support the top layer.
11. Remove from the freezer and pour in the plain batter. Tilt the pan to level.
12. Place in the large rectangular pan and pour in hot water from the kettle until it comes up â…” of the way up the cake pan⁴.
13. Place in oven and bake for 2 hours.
14. Turn off oven and let sit for 1 additional hour.
15. Carefully take cheesecake pan out of water bath place on cooling rack, let thoroughly cool.
16. Wrap top with plastic (careful not to touch cheesecake) and refrigerate for several hours, or overnight, until cold.

Removing and cutting:

1. To remove cheesecake from pan – heat water to almost boiling and pour into large mixing bowl until about â…“ full. The hot water will need to come ½ up the sides of the cheesecake pan.
2. Place cheesecake pan in hot water for 30 seconds. Remove pan from water, dry the bottom on a dry dish towel. Place flat plate or cardboard circle on top of cheesecake pan and invert to release.
3. Sprinkle and press the graham cracker crumbs over the bottom.
4. Place a serving dish over the graham cracker crumbed bottom and invert again so the cake is right side up.  Immediately place a cake plate on the bottom of the cheesecake and flip so the cake is right side up.
5. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Slice with a knife run under hot water and wiped clean after each slice.
6. Store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or freeze, well-wrapped for up to one month.

Notes:

1. It is best to buy blanched (skinned) hazelnuts as blanching them at home invariably fails to remove all the outer skin. Excellent quality blanched hazelnuts are available from nuts.com.
2. One piece 8†by 3†aluminum cheesecake pans are available from Amazon.
3. When buttering the sides of the cake pan, some of the butter will be visible on the outside of the cheesecake. This may be eliminated by using parchment strips on the sides.
4. It can be a little tricky moving the pan filled with hot water from the counter to the oven. Another method is to place the pan on the oven rack first, and then filling it with hot water.

Baking tips: 

1. Importance of room temperature cream cheese: Unlike cake batters where butter and sugar are creamed together to beat air into the batter, in this recipe the cream cheese and other ingredients are beaten together just enough to combine for a smooth batter. This isn’t possible with cold cream cheese.
2. To bring cream cheese to room temperature: take cream cheese out of refrigerator for approximately 3 hours. The cream cheese should be soft to the touch. It can be taken out of the foil wrappers, placed on a plate and microwaved for 15 to 20 seconds. It should register approximately 72 °F on an instant read thermometer.
3. The cake plate that the cheesecake is turned out onto should have a flat surface diameter of at least 8â€. Two cardboard cake circles may also be used for removing the cake from the pan.
4. To make a gluten-free cheesecake, use almond flour, or any ground nut in place of the graham cracker crumbs.