A silky smooth cheesecake, topped with blueberry, lime, and rose petal compote, embellished with toasted almond pastry crumbs.
Long, long ago, in a far, far away land (okay, it was Phinney Ridge near the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle), I was the co-owner of a cheesecake business called the Uncommon Cheesecake. My partner and I baked the most extraordinary cheesecakes I have ever tasted, before or since: Grand Marnier with Bitter Orange, Candied Ginger, and Café Mocha to name a few I can recall.
Our flavor combinations were fantastic, but the thing that really set our cheesecakes apart was the fact that we did not over bake them. Nearly every recipe on the planet tells you to over bake your cheesecake. Don’t do it. It’s not required for safety reasons and it is guaranteed to ruin the finished texture of the cheesecake. Likewise for all convoluted processes, such as setting the cheesecake in a pan of water. It’s not necessary.
Dry, gummy, gritty textured cheesecake is the result of–yes, I’ll say it again–OVER BAKING. It’s just that simple. Use a solid formula (such as below), don’t over bake, and your cheesecake will be perfection. I promise.
My cookbook, Pacific Northwest Palate, Four Seasons of Great Cooking, features a simple version of this seasonal blueberry cheesecake, which is a league beyond the canned blueberry, graham cracker concoction I grew up with–and adored.
This newest version is even better than that much improved version in my cookbook. I love the way all of the flavors combine here to create a harmonious whole, far greater than the sum of its parts. Blueberries, lime, and rose petals are a marriage made in heaven.
However, if you are not accustomed to the flavor of rose petal in tea, cookies, and desserts, you might want to use the lesser amount specified in this recipe. Rose petal is a dominant flavor and can easily over shadow the more subtle flavor of blueberries.
Blueberry, Lime & Rose Petal Cheesecake
To keep the pastry crumbs crisp, this dessert is slightly deconstructed. Most of the crumbs are served alongside, rather than under, the cheesecake. An added benefit of this plating method is that you can have as much of the pastry crumbs as you like. I like lots. J
Toasted Almond Pastry Crumbs
1 cup King Arthur all-purpose flour
1 cup whole almonds
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled, cut into 10 pieces
Cheesecake
three 8-ounce packages Philadelphia brand cream cheese
¾ cup sugar
3 eggs
1½ teaspoons vanilla
½ cup sugar
finely grated zest of 1 large lime
½ cup fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon cornstarch
½-¾ teaspoon rose petal extract (If substituting rose water, use only ½ teaspoon.)
- Lightly coat a 9-inch springform pan with vegetable spray. Reserve.
- To make Toasted Almond Pastry Crumbs, combine flour, almonds, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in a processor fitted with the steel knife. Pulse to finely grind the nuts.
- Add the butter and pulse briefly just until the mixture begins to resemble fine crumbs.
- Remove the crumbs from the work bowl and distribute evenly over the bottom of an edged baking sheet.
- Bake at 375° for about 30 minutes, redistributing the crumbs several times to prevent over browning.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the pan.
- Crush ½ cups of the cooled pastry crumbs and sprinkle over the bottom of the springform pan.
- Crush or crumble the remaining pastry crumbs. Seal in an airtight plastic bag or container and reserve.
- Using a processor or a stand mixer, beat the cream cheese and sugar until smooth, about 2 minutes.
- Blend in the eggs and vanilla to a creamy consistency.
- Pour the cream cheese mixture slowly over the pastry crumbs in the springform pan, so as not to mix with the crumbs.
- Bake the cheesecake in a 350° oven for 25-30 minutes, just until the outer edges begin to puff only slightly. The center will not appear set. The cheesecake will continue to cook after it is out of the oven. (You know you over-baked the cheesecake if it has a grainy texture after chilling. It should be completely smooth and creamy.)
- Remove from the oven and let cool for at least 30 minutes.
- To make the blueberry topping, in a large saucepan, combine the blueberries, sugar, lime zest, lime juice and cornstarch, and mix well.
- Bring to a full simmer to activate the cornstarch. When the liquid turns glossy, remove from the heat. Let cool for 10-15 minutes only.
- Top the cooled cheesecake evenly with the sauce, let cool thoroughly, then cover with a domed piece of foil, and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight.
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To serve, drizzle Fresh Blueberry Lime Sauce, if using, on the bottom of each serving plate. Arrange a slice of cheesecake on top of the sauce and spoon two small mounds of toasted almond pastry crumbs on either side of the cheesecake.
Oh Susan! These look and sound beautiful!! Love the rose petal addition! You should come link them up in this weeks Try a Bite Tuesday link party over on my blog!
Amber, thank you and so sorry I missed that. Will check it out for next week. 🙂
I almost burned the almond part and had to pull it out of the oven after about 10 min. 400 degrees seems too hot. Also, I only had rose water, so I went for the full amount and it was too strong…after 3 days it did mellow out though. I love your cheesecakes as a rule and have made several of your other variations.
GypsyBaker, thank you for your detailed feedback! I really appreciate it that you took the time to inform me of these issues. I reviewed the recipe, and it appears that there was a mistake in the ingredient list, in that it called for toasted almonds even before the toasting process. That may have caused the over browning. Nevertheless, I will retest the crumble this week and make any adjustments necessary to the post. In the meanwhile, I lowered the oven temperature to 375 degrees.
The recipe specifies rose petal extract, which is different in intensity from rose water. Because many people will likely substitute one for the other, as you did, I will amend the recipe with measurements for each. I’m sorry that this happened to your cheesecake, but because it did, you will save many others from the same mistake. 🙂
All the Best…Susan
For me the crust itself is already a winner and the blueberry compote makes it over the top delicious!
The temp. for baking would be for a conventional oven? I have to try looks so good. Thank you for sharing.
Sarah, yes, for a conventional oven. Happy baking!
Amazing blog! Do you have any tips for aspiring writers? I’m planning to start my own website soon but I’m a little lost on everything. Would you suggest starting with a free platform like WordPress or go for a paid option? There are so many options out there that I’m completely confused .. Any ideas? Thank you!
Hi Mirti! LunaCafe is a WordPress blog, and I love the platform. Lots of folks develop applications for WordPress, so it’s fairly easy to find widgets to add functionality to the blog. The paid version is the way to go if you think you are in this for the long haul. Don’t worry about being overwhelmed at the start. We certainly were, and I think we are still using only a small portion of the functionality that is available. The point is that you can build the look and feel of your blog as you go. Plus your blog will exist in the larger social media ecosystem. So you will definitely need to ramp up on Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, TasteSpotting, FoodGawker and any other platforms that will assist you in getting the word out that your blog exists and is worthy of notice. I haven’t even mentioned photography and food styling skills yet. 🙂 But the cool thing is that you can learn as you go. If I have any advise, it is to concentrate on your writing and let the rest evolve over time. Don’t worry too much about your readership numbers at the beginning. It usually takes years to build a large following. Perhaps the easiest way to get others to take notice of your blog in the beginning is to visit their blogs and leave substantive comments. I always visit the blogs of commenters and usually leave a comment as well. I also reference other great blog posts at the end of each of my posts. This creates a pingback so the author of that blog gets a little love and encouragement. You are going to become a member of a large community of food bloggers and food lovers. From my perspective, being in that conversation and having a platform from which to share your discoveries and views is the reward. You are going to grow enormously as a writer and a cook. Go for it! 🙂
Joy, thank you, and yes, do try it. It’s beyond delicious. Oh I wish I had a piece now. 🙂
I made this delicious cheesecake last week but couldn’t find enough blueberries nor the rose extract. So I just used an assorted mix of berries(blueberries, raspberries etc.) which worked great. Because I love crusty crusts I decided to just put all the crumbs beneath the cheese but this resulted in a great mess, it softened after baking. But honestly eating food that’s a mess is great fun(resulting with a lot of people covered in berries and cheese) and it still tasted delicious! This is definitly a recipe I will practise until perfect! thanks from the Netherlands!
LOL! It sounds like you know how to have fun in the kitchen. Bravo! 🙂
I made this yesterday for a barbque, and even with all my improvization and poor planning, it still got rave reviews. Lessons learned: 1. Need to buy a food processor. Grinding whole almonds with the cusinart smartstick that I use for smoothies is a laborious and messy process that walks the fine line between ground almonds and almond butter. 2) Need should make a trip out of the suburbs to a lebanese grocery. Couldn’t find the rose extract, so I contemplated using rose tea, bagged rose petals from the florist, or a pure essence of rose aromatherapy product. To be on the safe side i just added a little orange extract instead, and coudn’t taste it. 3) Potato peelers should be used to zest limes. 4) Read all the directions before you begin. After I had the sause made, cheesecake cooling, and guests salivating, I read the refrigerate 6 hours part… So I popped in the freezer for an hour, then the fridge for 2, and it was set enough to serve, though still soft in the middle. I can see how adding rose extract would balence the lime flavor, but I liked the acidity.
But aside from all that, still rave reviews, and sent a few guests home with your website:) Thanks!!!
Oh, Amy, thank you for this hilarious comment. I am still laughing. You are a true culinary adventurer. 🙂 Your idea to use rose petals, either fresh or from rose petal tea is an excellent one. Add to boiling water, then let brew for 30 minutes before straining and reducing to a tablespoon or so of rose-infused water. So glad it turned out well in the end.
That looks so yummy. Hard to resist anything with blueberries! & I love anything with a little fun added ingredient like rose petal extract. I have used it before, but, in sugar cookies. -Chris Ann
.-= LoveFeast Table´s last blog ..Masala Chai Recipe =-.
Chris Ann, thank you! I am offically in love with the flavor of rose petals. It’s amazing how versatile this flavor is. Now I understand why the dear eat all of my roses every year. 🙂
Oh, wow, this reminds me of a cake I had many many years ago. It looks almost the same althought the other one had blueberries from a can 🙂
Is rose petal extract the same as rose water?
.-= Nurit – 1 family. friendly. food.´s last blog ..crispy legs =-.
There was a recipe floating around many years ago that consisted of canned blueberries, a cream cheese mixture set with gelatin, and graham cracker crumbs. My Mom used to make it. That memory is the inspiration for this much improved version. Rose petal extract is stronger in flavor than rose petal water. uBt you can of course use the latter in this recipe. Just add to taste. 🙂
That blueberry cheesecake looks amazing!
Thanks Kevin! 🙂