The best thick and creamy cheesecake topped with homemade bourbon salted caramel sauce!
Hello, friends. Today I am giving you a recipe for the actual best cheesecake you'll ever eat. The base cheesecake here is as basic as you can get, but if you know me, you know basic vanilla is not my thing. So I had no choice but to add some homemade bourbon salted caramel sauce.
And if you need something even less basic than this, I must suggest my Caramel Toffee Crunch Cheesecake. Doesn't get better than that.
How do you make homemade caramel?
Caramel is pretty much just sugar cooked until it browns. The corn syrup prevents the sugar from crystallizing. The sugar turns to liquid and then browns. If you were to take it off the heat at this point, it would cool and turn into a whole block of hard candy. The additions of heavy cream and butter make this into a gooey sauce instead. Salt, vanilla, and bourbon are added for flavor.
Do I need to cook my cheesecake in a water bath?
A waterbath will help your cheesecake to cook more gradually and prevent cracking. However, instead of a waterbath, I find it easier to wrap two damp tea towels around the cheesecake while it bakes. I promise, they won't burn in the oven if you get them wet first!
How do I prevent my cheesecake from cracking?
To prevent your cheesecake from cracking, avoid any sudden changes in temperature. When baking, slowly bring your cheesecake up to temperature by using a water bath or my wet tea towel method. Another way to prevent cracking is to make sure you let the cheesecake cool down
slowly. At the end of the bake time, I open the oven a crack and leave
the cheesecake cool down in there slowly before cooling to room
temperature on the counter and finally chilling in the refrigerator. No
sudden temperature changes= no cracks in your cheesecake!
Is there a specific time period to pour the caramel sauce on top? I was wonderIng if the caramel layer eventually seeps into the cake. I might have to store this for a couple of days.
ReplyDeletei usually wait until the cheesecake is cooled, but the caramel shouldn’t seep into the cake at any time.
ReplyDeleteDo you know how the baking time differs if making this in a 6” pan rather than 10”?
ReplyDeleteThis recipe turned out perfectly!!!
ReplyDelete