Introduction: Rainbow Cheesecake
Taste the rainbow, now with vanilla!
Step 1: Ingredients
Gather all of your basic ingredients for whatever cheesecake recipe that you have.
As long as it's white or light colored, it should work wonderfully.
Filling:
1/2 c. sugar
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened (or your lite/fat free variety)
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Dash of salt
1/4 c. milk
2 eggs
Food Coloring (I have gels)
Mixing Bowl
6 zip style sandwich/snack bags. The snack size is a little easier to control when piping your mix out. You could alternatively layer the colors in a piping bag, and pipe directly into the center of the pan, so each color pushes the others out.
Mix everything: food wise, not literally everything, that could lead to problems; once you have a smooth almost pancake like batter you can move on.
As long as it's white or light colored, it should work wonderfully.
Filling:
1/2 c. sugar
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened (or your lite/fat free variety)
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Dash of salt
1/4 c. milk
2 eggs
Food Coloring (I have gels)
Mixing Bowl
6 zip style sandwich/snack bags. The snack size is a little easier to control when piping your mix out. You could alternatively layer the colors in a piping bag, and pipe directly into the center of the pan, so each color pushes the others out.
Mix everything: food wise, not literally everything, that could lead to problems; once you have a smooth almost pancake like batter you can move on.
Step 2: Fill Your Baggies!
Here is where the fun stuff begins.
You should start by putting your bags into cups or ramekins to make mixing easier.
I used some small ramekins I got at Pier One the other day for $1 a pop, so they are certainly affordable, and you should always have some handy regardless.
I made sure to lay them out in ROY G BIV so I knew what color was next.
I spooned out the filling into each bag separately, so there was an even amount in each one. I went one tablespoon at at a time until I was out.
You should start by putting your bags into cups or ramekins to make mixing easier.
I used some small ramekins I got at Pier One the other day for $1 a pop, so they are certainly affordable, and you should always have some handy regardless.
I made sure to lay them out in ROY G BIV so I knew what color was next.
I spooned out the filling into each bag separately, so there was an even amount in each one. I went one tablespoon at at a time until I was out.
Step 3: Fill Your Crusts/Crust!
More Fun!
When you have them filled evenly, zip them up and smoosh until you've gotten the gel distributed fairly.
You should have your piping bags ready to go.
Start by piping your first color, directly into the center of each pie. You want to make sure it's as close to the center as possible, because each time you add another color, it's going to push the bottom towards the sides, giving you rings that go vertical instead of horizontal.
You could layer out of order, but I went for something a little more traditional I guess.
Actually, the first layer can be put everywhere, for an even coat. The rest have to be in the center for the desired effect.
You can see I started with purple, then blue, green, yellow, orange and finally red.
When you have them filled evenly, zip them up and smoosh until you've gotten the gel distributed fairly.
You should have your piping bags ready to go.
Start by piping your first color, directly into the center of each pie. You want to make sure it's as close to the center as possible, because each time you add another color, it's going to push the bottom towards the sides, giving you rings that go vertical instead of horizontal.
You could layer out of order, but I went for something a little more traditional I guess.
Actually, the first layer can be put everywhere, for an even coat. The rest have to be in the center for the desired effect.
You can see I started with purple, then blue, green, yellow, orange and finally red.
Step 4: Is Your Oven on Yet?
Ok, this whole thing was a first for me, including writing this up, so bare with me.
Warm your oven to 250 degrees F. Place cheesecake into a *preheated water bath*, in the oven for 1 hour. Turn the oven off and open the door for one minute. Close the door for one more hour. Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and place in the refrigerator for 6 hours to completely cool before serving.
(I pulled these instructions out of Alton Browns newer book, with all the baking info)
For the water bath you want to bring about a quart of water to a boil, then put it in the pan carefully, making sure not to splash or jumble the pies around too much, as it can lead to a big mess.
As you can see I had some extra filling and popped it into full blown crust. It barely filled half way, but it still came out nicely.
I hope you enjoy it as much as my wife and kids did.
Warm your oven to 250 degrees F. Place cheesecake into a *preheated water bath*, in the oven for 1 hour. Turn the oven off and open the door for one minute. Close the door for one more hour. Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and place in the refrigerator for 6 hours to completely cool before serving.
(I pulled these instructions out of Alton Browns newer book, with all the baking info)
For the water bath you want to bring about a quart of water to a boil, then put it in the pan carefully, making sure not to splash or jumble the pies around too much, as it can lead to a big mess.
As you can see I had some extra filling and popped it into full blown crust. It barely filled half way, but it still came out nicely.
I hope you enjoy it as much as my wife and kids did.
