Four Layer Cheesecake

Yesterday was my youngest sister’s birthday.

Last year, my second-to-youngest sister ordered a two-layer cheesecake for her birthday, which at the time was quite the request. Not to be beaten, this year my youngest sister asked for a four layer cheesecake.

I confess that I’m afraid of what will happen next year.

This cheesecake was quite an effort because I had to make it in two batches since I only had two pans. So if you wish to attempt it, please have four pans. Believe me, your life will be so much easier.

the birthday girl bombs a photo.

After making two full batches of cheesecake and cooling both, the assembly was the fun part. The birthday girl supervised as the layers stacked up. When my back was turned she ate a spoonful of whipped cream. Also when my back was turned, somebody touched the top of the cake and left a small fingerprint.

Among the criminal offenses of this world, touching one of Linnaea’s cakes is likely the most disastrous. Naturally the criminal failed to confess, leaving me to sweep a spot of whipped cream over the offending area.

After the final whipped cream patch ups and the heavy sprinkle of garnish, we had a serious problem with the chocolate drizzle. First it was way too thin, so in went some cream to make it seize up. My little sister was extremely impressed with the magical effects. Unfortunately the chocolate was too thick, so then I added some coconut oil to thin it. Again said sister was extremely impressed with the magical effects.

On went the drizzle. I’m not exactly neat when it comes to drizzle, or, for that matter, cakes. Sorry.

After that, the pictures. I got sort of (just a little bit!) carried away and took nearly 400 before my card became so overstuffed that it freaked out and couldn’t handle it anymore and started blinking the “CARD FULL” panic notice.

But it was worth it, wasn’t it?

The cake was worth it, too. It was even worth making two batches. But still, please just do it all in one.

Four Layer Cheesecake

 

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Prep time

45 mins

Cook time

1 hour

Total time

1 hour 45 mins

 

You might think it's hard to make cheesecakes, but I've been making them since I was nine years old. They're not hard.

Author: Linnaea

Recipe type: Dessert

Cuisine: Cake

Serves: About 16 slices

Ingredients

• --The Coconut Crust--
• (You can also use regular pie crust or use the almond crust given in my grain free cheesecake recipe).
• 1 cup dried coconut flakes, ground up in your blender or food processor. Grind until pretty fine but not fine enough to be flour
• ½ stick (4 tablespoons) softened butter
• 1 teaspoon honey
• --The Cake--
• 4 pounds (8 packages) cream cheese, softened (It is REALLY important to have the cream cheese good and soft—otherwise the cheesecake will be lumpy and not as creamy)
• 1 cup melted honey (I used ⅔ of a cup to make it just barely sweetened, the way we like it, but 1 cup works too)
• 10 eggs
• 3 tablespoons vanilla extract
• --The Filling--
• Whipped cream (I use homemade whipped cream)

Instructions

1. Combine all of the ingredients and mash together with a fork. You can also just use your hands (I prefer this method).
2. Press the crust into the bottom of a greased round springform pan. The pan I used was about nine inches in diameter. Sprinkle the crust with some cocoa. This way you’ll have a nice thin, super dark chocolate layer between the cheesecake and the crust.
3. Take another round springform pan and place on a sheet of wax paper. Using a pen/marker/pencil, trace a circle around the circumference of the pan. Remove the pan from the wax paper and cut the circle out. Make sure to cut inside the circle line, since the wax paper will go inside of the pan.
4. Grease the wax paper well with butter, then put it in the bottom of the pan. Grease the edges of the pan with butter. Set aside.
5. Repeat the above process with the remaining two pans.
6. Place the softened cream cheese into a clean bowl and beat with an electric mixer on medium low. As soon as the cream cheese is well-beaten, add the honey. Beat the honey in. When well blended, add one egg. Beat. Add each other egg, one at a time, beating after each one. Add the vanilla and beat. Scrape the cream cheese off the bottom of bowl and beat the cheesecake can i order valtrex online mixture one more time.
7. If you want to make a chocolate/vanilla cheesecake, as I did, divide the mixture into two bowls and blend about ¾ cup of dark dutch cocoa into the mix. The ¾ cup is not a completely accurate measurement…just add the amount of cocoa that looks right and blend, then if it still isn’t quite as dark chocolate as you’d like it to be, add more and blend.
8. Divide the vanilla evenly between two of the prepared pans. Then divide the chocolate evenly between the other two prepared pans.
9. Put all four into the oven. You’ll want to have cookie sheets beneath them in case a little bit of the butter drips out of the bottom. Cook for ten minutes at 350 degrees F. After ten minutes, turn the oven down to 250 degrees F. Cook for another thirty minutes WITHOUT OPENING OVEN. After the cheesecake has been in there for about forty minutes, check for firmness. The cheesecake should not wiggle at all to the touch. The cheesecakes, if evenly sized, should take around 1 hour to cook. Signs of doneness are: Cheesecake is firm to the touch (but not hard), and does not wiggle when pan is moved.
10. After cheesecakes are fully cooked, turn the oven off and leave them in there for about 15 minutes to cool. Remove from oven and set on the counter. In order to keep the cakes from cracking, you’ll want to do a slow cooling process. I usually put a colander (bowl with holes in it) on top of each cheesecake. You can also use a regular bowl, though this will not work quite as well.
11. After the cheesecakes have cooled with colanders on top for about twenty minutes, remove colanders. Using a rubber spatula, gently go along the edge of the cheesecake, in order to get the cake detached from the pan. You won’t completely remove the sides, though, until the cake is fully cooled.
12. Place the cheesecakes in the refrigerator and refrigerate for at least one hour (two to four hours would be best). While the cake is in the refrigerator, make some whipped cream.
13. Take the cheesecakes out of the fridge and carefully remove the springform sides. Put a large plate upside down on top of the second layer (the one with the wax paper). Flip the second layer over so that it is laying facedown on the plate.
14. Remove the bottom of the springform pan, then gently peel away the wax paper. Repeat with the other two top layers until all three are lying facedown on the plates.
15. Coat the top of the bottom layer (the one with the crust) in whipped cream.
16. SEE STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS BELOW RECIPE TO LEARN HOW TO STACK THE LAYERS.
17. Gently flip the second layer over and onto the surface of the first layer.
18. Remove the plate and spread with whipped cream.
19. Repeat with the remaining two layers, carefully flipping each onto the cake and then coating in whipped cream.
20. Optional: Spread a thin layer of whipped cream over the entire cake. Sprinkle with chocolate chips or chocolate shavings. You can also pour on some chocolate drizzle if you want. The one downside to this is that the chocolate drizzle will harden when cooled and make the cake more difficult to cut.
21. Refrigerate for at least 30 more minutes.

Notes

Note: Yes, you will need four nine-inch round pans, but you are only putting the crust in one of the pans. Directions for preparing the next 3 pans are below.
Note: Besides being gluten free, recipe is also refined sugar free & grain free.

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Coat the top of the bottom layer (the one with the crust) in whipped cream.

Gently flip the second layer over and onto the surface of the first layer.

Remove the plate and spread with whipped cream.

Repeat with the remaining two layers, carefully flipping each onto the cake and then coating in whipped cream.

Optional: Spread a thin layer of whipped cream over the entire cake. Sprinkle with chocolate chips or chocolate shavings. You can also pour on some chocolate drizzle if you want. The one downside to this is that the chocolate drizzle will harden when cooled and make the cake more difficult to cut.

Refrigerate for at least 30 more minutes.

Delicious and creamy gluten-free four layer cheesecake…a dessert certain to impress!