Marbled Cheesecake | Baking with Dorie

The marbled cheesecake follows all the classic methods. It has a graham cracker crust and a filling made by whipping together cream cheese, eggs and heavy cream. The baking follows the traditional water bath route (bain-marie), cooling and resting the cake with the oven turned off, and then a long chill. In addition, the marbling is a unique technique, one in which I’m unfamiliar with. I have to say the marbled cheesecake presents a bit of a challenge. That involves tackling numerous steps, a learning curve on marbling and some planning ahead. From kitchen to table, making the cake can go beyond a single day.

The process consists of making the crust, the chocolate syrup (for the dark batter) and a cheesecake white batter. Combine the batters, which create the distinctive marbling effect, if you get it right — and bake.

The recipe calls for two pounds of cream cheese and I opt to halve the recipe. Meanwhile, I want to make a mini-cake instead of a full-size one. So I end up with two mini cheesecakes. The challenge is having to figure out how long to bake the minis. (I probably over-baked them at 60 minutes.) On top of that, I want to utilize the steam function (in my convection-steam oven) to bake the cheesecakes, but unsure about the moisture setting (100% or less)?

As you can tell, baking the marbled cheesecake has become a protracted experiment. The result is less than perfect: cracks on the cakes and the marbling needs more practice.