Cheese cupcakes/ Cheesecake cups/ Mini cheesecakes

A simple cheese cake but AAAAAmazing!

I love cheesecakes! I am not ashamed to shout it out from my rooftop! The other day I watched ‘Master chef’ where the challenge was to make a perfect cheesecake and I realised how difficult it was to get the right texture and bake them without cracks. It triggered a sudden interest in me to bake one and find out the difficulty level. I checked the web for a good recipe and understood I needed a spring form pan to slide the cake out with ease. So I went shopping and could not get the right sized pan from the shops in our town.

The next alternative was small cheesecakes in cupcake molds. I got this recipe by combining notes from a couple of sites ( joyofbaking, cooks.com and food.com the last one being a microwave cheesecake). I had to modify those recipes to suit my need, especially with less eggs. Mini cakes are easy to share as there is no messy cutting and each one can enjoy a cute little cup of cheesy sweetness.

These cheesecakes in cups are decadent and sinfully good.

Ingredients

Crust

• 1¼ cup Graham cracker crumb
• 2 tbsp butter melted
• 1 tbsp sugar

Filling

• 1 ½ cup cream cheese
• 1 egg
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• ½ cup sour cream
• 1 tsp vanilla essence

Topping – Raspberry jam

• 2 cups raspberry fresh or frozen
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp lemon juice

1. Mix Graham cracker crumb, sugar and butter.
2. In a separate bowl combine cream cheese and sugar with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy.
3. Add egg, lemon juice, vanilla extract, sour cream and beat well.
4. Preheat oven to 325° F
5. Place paper cups in muffin pan and press 2 tbsp Graham cracker mixture at the bottom of each cup.
6. Pour cheese cake mix into each cup to the desired height. (I should have filled more. This cake will not rise.)
7. Place the pan on the middle rack and bake for 18 – 2o minutes. (I baked for exactly 20 minutes)
8. Turn off the oven when the center is still jiggly.
9. Let it cool on a rack. After it cools it firms up.
10. Then put it in the refrigerator for 3 hours or overnight.
11. To prepare raspberry jam put the berries in a pan and add sugar on top and let it cook.
12. When it boils mash the berries and boil for a few more minutes.
13. Add lemon juice and remove from stove.
14. Top the cheesecakes with raspberry jam and raspberries.

Cheesecake is my all-time favorite cake as I would not miss any opportunity to order one when dining at a restaurant if it is on their dessert menu. My husband who controls his sweet cravings and our daughter who hates cheesecakes absolutely loved this.