I sampled a piece, and I have committed every single decadent bite to my taste memory. I’ll tell you with great confidence that I think this cheesecake is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. This recipe has been featured in a post on The Recipe Girl blog with many more photographs: Red Velvet Cheesecake.
RED VELVET CHEESECAKE
www.RecipeGirl.com
CRUST:
17 regular-sized oreo cookies, crushed finely (or 1½ cups chocolate graham cracker crumbs)
¼ cup butter, melted
1 Tbs granulated sugar
CHEESECAKE:
Three 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened
1½ cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
3 Tbs unsweetened cocoa
1 cup sour cream
½ cup buttermilk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp distilled white vinegar
Two 1-ounce bottles red food coloring
FROSTING:
One 3-ounce package cream cheese, softened
¼ cup butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla extract
fresh mint sprigs, for garnish
heavy duty foil
1. Prepare crust: Stir together oreo crumbs, melted butter, and 1 Tbsp. granulated sugar; press mixture into bottom of 9-inch springform pan.
2. Preheat oven to 325°F. Prepare water bath: Fill large roasting pan (big enough for springform pan to fit into) with about 1 inch of water. Place in oven and allow to preheat along with the oven.
3. Prepare filling: Beat cream cheese and sugar at medium-low speed with an electric mixer for 1 minute. Add eggs and remaining cheesecake ingredients, mixing on low speed just until fully combined. Pour batter into prepared crust.
4. Take out two sheets of heavy duty foil and layer them on top of one another. Place springform pan on top of the foil and wrap the foil gently around the pan and up the sides. Make sure that there are no tears or holes and that the foil comes all the way up around all sides of the cake. Carefully place the foil-protected pan into the water bath in the preheated oven.
5. Bake for 10 minutes; reduce heat to 300°F. Bake for an additional 75 minutes or until the center is firm. Turn oven off. Let cheesecake stand in oven for 30 minutes. Remove cheesecake from oven. Carefully remove cheesecake from water bath and place on wire rack. Run a thin knife around the outer edge of the cheesecake. Cool on rack for a couple of hours, until the cheesecake becomes close to room temperature. Cover and chill for at least 8 hours (or overnight). Remove sides of springform pan.
6. Prepare frosting: Beat cream cheese and butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Gradually add powdered sugar and vanilla, beating until smooth. Spread evenly on top of cheesecake. Garnish, if desired.
Cooking Tips
*You may choose to bake the cheesecake instead with no water bath. Bake at 325 for 10 minutes; reduce heat to 300 and bake for an additional 75 minutes. Let cheesecake stand in oven 30 minutes. Remove from oven; cool in pan on wire rack for 30 minutes. (Baking without a water bath – you run the risk of cracking the top of the cheesecake).
*Some readers have indicated that there is far too much frosting for this recipe. I personally like a lot of frosting, so you can see a thick layer of frosting in the photograph. If you’re not big on frosting, you can leave it off entirely or cut the frosting recipe in half.
Recipe Source: Adapted from Southern Living
8 Comments
I made this Saturday for our Sunday dinner. It was amazing and such a big hit with my family! Thanks for this recipe.
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I love cheesecake and red velvet, so I just had to make this. I have been baking things such as cupcakes, brownies, and cookies for a while now, but this was my first attempt at making a cheesecake. It was perfect, no cracks at all! The only problem was that I didn’t have any long, heavy duty foil on hand, so a little water leaked in. It didn’t really affect the taste though. It was delicious, but I found myself eating the frosting more than the cake itself. Due to my past experiences with making frosting for red velvet cupcakes, I made only half of the frosting recipe. It fit the cheesecake perfectly, and double that (the original measurements) would’ve been far too much.
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This is a great recipe, I had never heard of a red velvet cheese cake but stumbled across this recipe from a Google search. I would also recommend making about half the amount of icing, as I had way too much.
I used the water bath method as described and also had no cracks, but I must remind you, cracks don’t mean the cake is inedible! It would be still just as delicious with cracks and you probably wouldn’t even be able to tell with the cream cheese icing on top!
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Hi Recipe Girl –
Do you use just the chocolate cookie part of the oreo or the whole oreo (including the frosting) for the base?
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Lori Lange Reply:
October 27th, 2009 at 6:29 PM
Chris, It’s ok to use the filling in the crust too.
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I made this recipe for Halloween and it was not the best cheesecake I’ve had. I made 2 other kinds of cheese cake and both came out better than this one. It is too sweet and tastes like food coloring and sugar. It did not remind me of red velvet at all. I would not recomend this one. My family ate the other 2 cheese cakes and this one ended up in the trash and a waste of time. It takes far too long to bake.
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Lori Lange Reply:
November 6th, 2009 at 5:57 AM
Kylie, So sorry you had a bad experience with this cheesecake. It was a big, big hit at our teacher’s luncheon- they were fighting over the pieces & they all wanted the recipe! Not sure what happened in your case.
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I made this cheesecake with the water bath and the top still cracked
….luckily the frosting covered it up because it was for Thanksgiving.
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Lori Lange Reply:
March 1st, 2010 at 1:18 PM
@kelli, That’s a definite benefit of having that frosting layer on top, isn’t it
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I made this cheesecake during the Christmas holidays and it was a hit. I will definitely make it again.
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I made this for Valentine’s Day. It was beautiful and tasted SO good! I did notice that the frosting called for 3oz of cream cheese. You definitely need the whole 8oz package. Also, you don’t need that much food coloring for it to still be a beautiful dark red. All in all, I’m keeping this recipe and making it again! It may have to become a definite Heart Day tradition!
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Lori Lange Reply:
March 1st, 2010 at 1:17 PM
@Laura, I definitely only used 3 ounces of cream cheese for my icing.
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