Two Layer Cheesecake

 

(If you prefer to make just a single layer cheesecake, try Grain-Free Cheesecake).

I recently made this for my youngest sister’s birthday. She’s never been one to go halfway on her birthday requests, and this year was certainly no exception. I tried to convince her to do an all-vanilla cheesecake, but she insisted on having one layer chocolate and the other vanilla. In the end, she was probably right. It was good that way.

This cheesecake recipe is (sort of) paleo friendly…depending upon how paleo you are. My Dad eats grain free and sugar free and avoids milk and yogurt, but he’s fine with cream cheese, butter, honey, and occasionally almonds (though I don’t think the cavemen had butter. Poor them). Because this recipe is refined sugar, grain, and milk free, he is fine with eating it. You might not be.

You can make it with a regular pie crust, but we’ve always preferred it with almonds anyway. The cheesecake filling, I’ve found, is best made with honey, but you can sub 1 cup of sugar, as in my other cheesecake recipe.

Anyway, on to the recipe!

Two Layer Cheesecake

 

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Prep time

45 mins

Cook time

1 hour 30 mins

Total time

2 hours 15 mins

 

Author: Linnaea

Recipe type: Dessert

Cuisine: Cheesecake

Serves: 12

Ingredients

• The Crust: see above recipe
• The Cake:
• 4 pounds (8 packages)cream cheese
• 1 cup melted honey
• 10 eggs
• 3 tablespoons vanilla extract
• The Filling:
• Whipped cream (I use homemade whipped cream)
• One chocolate bar, chopeed small.

Instructions

1. For the crust, use my regular pie crust or use the almond crust given in my grain free cheesecake recipe (both links above recipe). Press the crust into the bottom of a greased round springform pan. The pan I used was about nine inches in diameter. Put the crust in the oven at 350 degrees F. Since my springform pan leaks a little, I put a cookie sheet underneath it. You’ll want to cook the crust in here for about 10 minutes. When it is cooked, remove it from the oven and set aside.
2. 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 lines, since the wax paper will go inside of the pan. 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.
3. Place 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. Beat the cheesecake mixture one more time.
4. If you want to make a chocolate/vanilla cheesecake, as I did, pour about half of the mixture into one of the pans (whichever layer you want to be vanilla). Then, add ½ cup extra dark dutch cocoa to the remainder of the mix, and pour this into the other pan.
5. Put both pans into the oven and cook for ten minutes. After ten minutes, turn the oven down to 250 degrees F. Cook for another fifty minutes WITHOUT OPENING OVEN. After the cheesecake has been in there for one hour, check for firmness. The cheesecake should not wiggle at all to the touch. The cheesecakes, if evenly sized, should take around 1 hour 20 minutes to cook. However, if one layer is much thinner than the other, you’ll have to cook that layer for less time, and the other for more. Signs of doneness are: Cheesecake is firm to the touch (but not hard), does not wiggle when pan is moved. For the vanilla cheesecake, it will be a medium brown color on top.
6. After cheesecakes are fully cooked, 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.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. Take the cheesecakes out of the fridge and 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.
10. Remove the bottom of the springform pan, then gently peel away the wax paper.
11. Coat the top of the first layer in whipped cream. Chop your chocolate bar finely and sprinkle over the cake.
12. Gently flip the second layer (the one on the plate) over and onto the surface of the first layer.
13. Remove the plate.
14. Optional: Spread a thin layer of whipped cream over the entire cake. Sprinkle with chocolate chips or chocolate dust.
15. Refrigerate for at least 30 more minutes.
16. Serve with more whipped cream and chocolate drizzle (optional).

Notes

One reader recommended using this recipe for the crust:
1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup coconut flour (can even be just a little less, as it’s so absorbent)
1/2 cup almond meal
1/4 cup coconut sugar

Stir it all together and press into the pan.

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