Lemon Berry Cheesecake

The warmth and crunch of a graham cracker-pistachio crust is perfectly contrasted with the creamy cloud of light lemon cake dotted with pops of roasted blueberry, and topped with the crisp sweetness of fresh strawberries. Are you listening? 

There's only one possible color scheme for Fourth of July dessert. This year, I created a cheesecake that ranks among the best desserts I've ever made - and I can't wait to share it with you! My audience was rather skeptical about the lack of cream cheese ("How can it be cheesecake...?") but everyone was very impressed with the light, creamy texture of the finished product. I believe it's marginally healthier than the traditional recipe, but you should choose this cheesecake simply because it is FANTASTIC.

If you're not experienced with baking cheesecakes, all you need are the right tools and a few guiding principles. You definitely need a springform pan, with a detachable ring around the sides to allow full release of the cheesecake when it's cooled. Also make sure you have some heavy duty aluminum foil and a roasting pan for the water bath when you're baking it. The rest is... cake.

Lemon Berry Cheesecake

Makes one 8" cheesecake

Recipe adapted from A Culinary Journey with Chef Dennis

Graham Cracker-Pistachio Crust

9 graham crackers

3/8 C dry roasted unsalted pistachios

6 Tbsp melted butter (3/4 stick)

1/8 C + 1 Tbsp granulated sugar

Directions: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Pulse graham crackers and pistachios in a food processor until finely and evenly ground. Add sugar and pulse to combine. Add melted butter in small increments until mixture is moist and sticks together but doesn't ooze butter (you may not use all of the butter). Press crust into bottom of springform pan with your fingers to form an even layer. Bake for 7 minutes, remove and let cool completely.

Lemon Cheesecake

1 C fresh blueberries (or frozen fresh)

12 oz ricotta cheese

12 oz mascarpone cheese

6 oz greek yogurt

3/4 C granulated sugar

4 eggs

1 1/2 Tbsp all-purpose flour

Finely grated zest of 1 lemon

Juice from 1/2 lemon

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 tsp salt

~10 fresh strawberries for decoration

Directions: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spread blueberries onto baking sheet lined with foil, and roast for about 8-10 minutes until berries start to pop and release their juices. Remove from oven and set aside.

With an electric mixer, blend together ricotta, mascarpone, greek yogurt until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, blending between. Add sugar, flour, lemon zest, lemon juice, vanilla and salt and combine completely. 

Wrap the cooled springform pan with heavy duty foil and place in roasting pan. Add water until the line reaches ~1/3 the height of the springform. Pour cheesecake mixture on top of cooled crust. Add roasted blueberries by small amounts on top, and swirl once or twice with a spoon to distribute them (they will sink to the bottom but leave some flavor throughout). 

Bake for 50-60 minutes, until the cake is set in the center (not liquid, but still jiggly). It will brown lightly on top, so cover the cake with foil after 30 minutes if you want to keep it light. When it's done, turn oven off and let the cake sit in the oven for 1 hour to set completely. Remove and let cool completely. Refrigerate for several hours or overnight before decorating and serving.

To decorate, wash and hull strawberries and slice them lengthwise. Arrange along the circumference of the cake, starting with the outside edge and moving inwards. If you have extra strawberries, puree them in a food processor and serve the fresh sauce with the cheesecake!

Summer Strawberry Cupcakes

There's no better way to celebrate the return of summer than with a Memorial Day BBQ. After debating what to contribute to the feast, I realized there was only one solution - strawberry cupcakes! Most of the cupcake recipes out there are kind of lame, only adding chunks of strawberries to vanilla cake batter. I knew that nothing short of beautiful, uniformly pink cakes would make the cut, so I was overjoyed when I stumbled across this recipe for Sprinkles strawberry cupcakes.

They're a gorgeous light pink color, wonderfully tender and offer the perfect amount of sweetness and strawberry flavor. Topped with a slice of fresh strawberry, they're beautiful little additions to a dessert table. Don't miss your chance to put that fresh farmers market fruit to good use this June!

I experimented with a vanilla mascarpone frosting, but didn't love the result, so I won't post the recipe here. But in the future, I would top these with whipped cream or even a light vanilla cream cheese frosting. The sky's the limit! But don't overwhelm the strawberry flavor with a topping that's more intense than vanilla.

Sprinkles Strawberry Cupcakes
Recipe from Oprah.com
Makes 12 cupcakes


2/3 C fresh strawberries (you can use frozen in a pinch)
1 1/2 C all-purpose flour, sifted
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 C milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 C (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 C sugar
1 egg
2 egg whites

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare cupcake tin with liners. Puree strawberries in a food processor, and set aside 1/3 C to use in the recipe.

In one bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. In another, whisk together milk, vanilla and strawberry puree. Cream butter with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, then add sugar and beat until well-combined. Slowly add egg and egg whites and mix until blended.

At low speed, slowly mix in half of the flour mixture. Add milk mixture. Slowly add the last half of the flour and beat until just blended, scraping down sides of the bowl as needed. Divide batter among cupcake liners and bake until the tops of the cakes spring back to light touch, about 20-25 minutes. Let cupcakes cool completely before frosting.

Summer in a cupcake

When I saw this recipe, I knew I had to try it! The only hitch was that it called for matcha (a finely milled Japanese green tea). When I finally found it at Whole Foods, it cost $26 for a couple of ounces... so the plan definitely needed to change. I wanted to preserve the spirit of the original recipe, so I decided to infuse the milk with green tea from tea bags instead. It definitely didn't turn the cupcake green like the matcha would, and wasn't a very strong flavor, but I decided it was definitely a valuable addition. The cake didn't taste like vanilla and had a bit more sophistication and subtlety. If you happen to already have matcha at home, I would encourage you to try it (add 1 Tbsp to the dry ingredients). 

Green Tea and Strawberry Cupcakes
Adapted from Sweetest Kitchen
Makes 12 cupcakes

3/4 C + 2 Tbsp cake flour
1/2 C + 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 C sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 C unsalted butter, softened, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 eggs
1/2 C whole milk
3-4 bags of green tea
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Strawberry jam or preserves

Directions: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners; set aside. Microwave the milk until hot, then steep with 3-4 green tea bags (make sure it can sit for at least 6 minutes). Combine flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Add butter, mixing until the cubes of butter are peanut-sized or a little smaller. In another small bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, and vanilla. With mixer on medium speed, add wet ingredients in 3 parts, scraping down sides of bowl before each addition; beat until ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat. Divide batter evenly among cupcake liners, filling about 2/3 full. Bake until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Once cupcakes have cooled completely, use a sharp paring knife or apple corer to cut out a small circular area of the cupcake center. Fill hole with strawberry jam.

Strawberry Buttercream
Adapted from Martha Stewart
Makes about 2 1/2 cups

2 egg whites
1/2 C + 2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened, cut into small pieces
3/4 C fresh strawberries, pureed

Directions: There are a couple of things that I learned while working in the kitchen for the good folks at Sugar Butter Flour, and they definitely will save you a LOT of wasted egg whites and sugar. First off, make sure you put the egg whites and sugar in a heatproof mixer bowl that is COMPLETELY DRY. Even the slightest drop of watter in the bowl will make it impossible to whip the eggs correctly. Heat the bowl of egg whites and sugar over a pot of simmering water (make a double boiler). Whisk pretty constantly until sugar dissolves. You'll know it's at the right point when you can't feel any sugar crystals when rubbing the mixture between your forefinger and thumb. It's the right temperature when you can hold your finger in the bowl for a few seconds before it gets too hot.

Remove from heat and beat on medium-high speed until stiff, glossy peaks form. Reduce speed to medium, and add butter, 1 piece at a time, beating well after each addition. With mixer on low, add strawberry puree, and beat until smooth. Use immediately, or cover, and refrigerate for up to 3 days.


This, folks, is stiff and glossy!