Lemon Cheesecake with Raspberry Sauce

So guess what.  I love dessert.  A lot.
Sometimes that's a bad thing.
Most of the times it's good though.

 

Because sometimes I end up making things like this.

Probably one of the best desserts I've had.

 

Last night we had my family over for Sunday dinner in our small little house.  I made some bomb enchiladas (recipe to come soon!), a black bean side dish, and this fabulous CHEESECAKE!

 

I had ever made a cheesecake before, and even though it wasn't hard at all to mix the ingredients, it was VERY time consuming! It needed longer to bake than the recipe called for and since it was hard to tell when it was done (center is still supposed to be "slightly" jiggly- what defines "slightly?!"), I just kept it in the oven until I was confident that it was done.

THEN it was time for refrigeration... for at least 4 hours! 

Meanwhile I whipped up some raspberry sauce that I thought would go well with it...

 

And then it was time to serve- out of the fridge!

 

It was BEAUTIFUL and better yet, it tasted fabulous! My whole family loved it and Forrest and I ended up going back for seconds after everyone left... shhh :)

Lemon Cheesecake
from Betty Crocker

 

Crust

1	box yellow cake mix
1/3	cup vegetable oil
1	egg
1	teaspoon grated lemon peel

Filling

2

packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened

3/4

cup sugar

3

containers (3.5 oz each) lemon pudding (from 4-pack container)

1/2

cup sour cream

3

eggs

2

cups frozen (thawed) whipped topping

  

Heat oven to 300°F. Spray bottom and side of 10-inch springform pan with baking spray with flour. Wrap foil around outside of pan to catch drips. Reserve 1/4 cup of the cake mix; set aside. In large bowl, beat remaining cake mix, oil, 1 egg and lemon peel with electric mixer on low speed until crumbly. Press in bottom and 1 1/2 inches up side of pan.

In same large bowl, beat reserved cake mix, the cream cheese, sugar, pudding and sour cream on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until mixed. Pour over crust.
Bake 1 hour 20 minutes to 1 hour 35 minutes or until edges are set but center of cheesecake jiggles slightly when moved. Turn oven off; open oven door at least 4 inches. Leave cheesecake in oven 30 minutes longer.

Remove cheesecake from oven; place on cooling rack. Without releasing side of pan, run knife around edge of pan to loosen cheesecake. Cool in pan on cooling rack 30 minutes. Cover loosely; refrigerate 4 hours or overnight. Remove side of pan before serving. Pipe or spoon whipped topping around outside edge of cheesecake. Store in refrigerator. 


Raspberry Sauce
1 10-oz bag frozen raspberries
1 tsp. cornstarch
1 Tbsp. light corn syrup

Combine ingredients in a medium saucepan.  Bring to a boil.  Continue to boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.  Then remove from heat, cool, cover, and refrigerate.  

Serve on ice cream, toast, yogurt, or lemon cheesecake!