Lime Cheesecake with Raspberry Cream

This recipe comes from my new cookbook, "Classic Southern Desserts"- It's from the editors of Southern Living. I've had so much fun reading this book. There are a ton of recipes in this book that I want to make. The only reason I chose this lime cheesecake is because I had a lot of extra limes leftover from some lime bars I made last week. The book calls for "key limes" and therefore they call it "Key Lime Cheesecake" in the book. I only had regular old limes from the supermarket, therefore I call mine simply "Lime Cheesecake". In the book they garnish their cheesecake with a strawberry sauce. I made freshly whipped cream and stabilized it with raspberry gelatin. Supposedly whipped cream will not break down as quickly if you use gelatin as a stabilizer. Most people would use the unflavored gelatin but all I had was a box of raspberry Jello so I figured that raspberry & lime are a nice combo.

This cheesecake is tart and delicious. I had to bake mine a lot longer than the recipe calls for. Probably 40 minutes more. The middle just was not setting up. My crust ended up a little darker than I would have liked but it's still good. The top was not especially beautiful -cracks & some spots too dark - but the raspberry cream covers those flaws just fine. I decided to only pipe the raspberry whipped cream garnish as I cut each slice so I have my entire bowl of raspberry whipped cream sitting in the fridge. I'm anxious to see how long it takes before it starts breaking down. Can I still use it pipe 24 hours from now? Have any of you had experience with whipped cream stabilized with gelatin? I'm not sure what to expect but I do know that for right now, the raspberry whipped cream is absolutely wonderful.

I just love classic southern desserts! I want to make about 80% of the recipes in this book. So stay tuned for lots more.

Key Lime Cheesecake
Southern Living

Ingredients

• 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
• 3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 (8-ounce) container sour cream
• 1 1/2 teaspoons grated lime rind
• 1/2 cup Key lime juice

Preparation

Stir together first 3 ingredients, and firmly press on bottom and 1 inch up sides of a greased 9-inch springform pan.

Bake at 350° for 8 minutes; cool.

Beat cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy; gradually add 1 1/4 cups sugar, beating until blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in sour cream, rind, and juice. Pour batter into crust.

Bake at 325° for 1 hour and 5 minutes; turn oven off. Partially open oven door; let stand in oven 15 minutes. Remove from oven, and immediately run a knife around edge of pan, releasing sides.

Cool completely in pan on a wire rack; cover and chill 8 hours.