I was stuck for inspiration on cake this week, but I went back to that food holidays page that I mentioned in the pina colada pineapple upside down cake recipe and saw that yesterday was National Cheesecake Day and that today is National Raspberry Cake Day so I combined the two. When researching what I wanted to do for this cake, I realized that most “raspberry cheesecake recipes” are actually plain cheesecake topped with fresh raspberries or a raspberry coulis, which isn’t quite what I wanted since I’ve done a similar recipe with my Thin Mint cheesecake recipe. I really wanted to have a raspberry cheesecake for heaven’s sake. I also wanted to do something special with peaches, per my husband’s recommendation and suggestion that peaches and raspberries complement each other well, so I tossed fresh slices of peaches with the grains from a Madagascar vanilla bean pod to take it to the next level. When I was done getting the grains out of the vanilla bean pod, I tossed it into my jar with homemade vanilla extract – look how dark it’s getting! I’m sure it’s ready or almost ready to use by now.

Raspberry Cheesecake Recipe Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1/2 cup ground pecans
• 2 8-ounce packages of cream cheese, softened at room temperature
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 1/3 cup milk
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
• 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup raspberry preserves

Raspberry Cheesecake Recipe Directions

Grind about 1 and 1/2 cups in a food processor to get fine graham cracker crumbs, and using a spice grinder do the same with the pecans. Put your oven rack in the middle of the oven, and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put a cake pan filled with water on the bottom rack. In your kitchen mixer, beat the cream cheese with the paddle attachment until it’s light and fluffy, and add the sugar gradually, beating until smooth. Mix in the milk, then add the eggs one at a time beating just until blended (don’t overbeat). Add the Greek yogurt, raspberry preserves and vanilla extract and beat until blended. Pour over your graham cracker pecan cheesecake crust. Bake for 1 hour, or until the middle is just a little jiggly and doesn’t seem quite set. Turn off the oven and let it set for about another half hour. Remove from the oven and cool completely at room temperature. Chill for 6 hours.

Vanilla Bean Coated Peach Slices Recipe Ingredients

• 1 peach, peeled and sliced
• Grains of 1 vanilla bean pod

Vanilla Bean Coated Peach Slices Recipe Directions

Wash and peel your fresh peach, which should be ripened to the point that it’s firm but allows you to squish a little bit with your fingers. Slice the peach thinly. (I need to learn some knife skills – I would love to have had much thinner slices!) Get the grains out of the vanilla bean pod. Here’s a tutorial on how to use vanilla beans. Toss the peach slices with the vanilla bean grains, then adorn the completely cooled cheesecake with the vanilla bean coated peach slices.

About HeatherPhysioc

Heather Physioc is a 27-year-old Senior Website Manager at PlattForm Advertising in Kansas CIty. She is a vegetarian food-lover who finds joy in cooking, baking and finding funky new restaurants. She leads a pack of dogs, including her beagle Ford, and her shepherd-collie-retriever mix, Otto, and also has a cat named Ahab. Her husband, Luke, bought her the KitchenAid you see in this blog as a wedding present!

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