Tiramisu Cheesecake

caffeine junkie's Note:

This comes from the Kraft Food & Family magazine. I haven't tried it yet, but it looks so good, and so simple. If you have access to mascarpone cheese, I suggest using it instead of cream cheese... it tastes so much better!

• Total Time: 1 hrs 5 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 45 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 16

• 1 (12 ounce) box vanilla wafers
• 5 teaspoons instant coffee , divided
• 3 tablespoons hot water , divided
• 4 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese , softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup sour cream
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup Cool Whip , thawed
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a 13x9x2" pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides of pan.
2. Layer half of the wafers (44) on bottom of prepared pan.
3. In a small bowl, dissolve 2 t. coffee granules in 2 T. hot water. Brush wafers with half of the dissolved coffee mixture; set remaining aside.
4. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar on medium speed until well blended.
5. Add sour cream; mix well.
6. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition just until blended.
7. Dissolve remaining 3 t. coffee granules in remaining 1 T. hot water.
8. Remove 3 1/2 cups of batter; place in medium bowl. Stir in dissolved coffee.
9. Pour coffee-flavored batter over wafers in baking pan. Layer remaining wafers over batter. Brush wafers with reserved dissolved coffee. Pour remaining plain batter over wafers.
10. Bake 45 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool to room temperature. Refrigerate 3 hours or overnight. Lift cheesecake from pan, using foil handles. Spread with whipped topping; dust with cocoa.
11. Store leftover cheesecake in refrigerator.

Reviews

[lwh]

Tiramisu cheesecake at The Cheesecake Factory is one of my favorites, so I was excited to try this recipe. Just made this last week for a party, and it was really yummy! Several people asked for the recipe and said it was "bakery good." I'm giving it 5 stars, but if I had the option I would probably give it 4.5 stars. I used my springform pan, following I_luv_sweets' directions for the crust. I used whole Nilla Wafers for the center layer. I had to cook longer than listed (probably because I used a springform rather than 9x13), and I felt like the edges were getting a little brown. When I make this again, I'll probably look at other springform cheesecake recipes for cooking temps/times to try to keep it from browning too much.

[I_luv_sweets]

This is in the top two for my all-time favorite cheesecake. Everyone loves this. I think the coffee flavor is what keeps this from being overly rich. My husband doesn't really care for cheesecake, but he enjoys this one. I, too, found this recipe on the Kraft site. I make mine in a 9" springform pan, so I do make a crumb crust using 1/2 of the vanilla wafers, plus 2 T sugar, and 1/3 cup melted butter. I bake the crust at 350 for 8 minutes. When cooled, I brush it with some of the coffee mixture.

[Sweet Chef]

Mmmmmm, soo GOOD! I Also found this recipe on kraftfoods.com, but thought id print if here afterwards so i could easily halve the recipe for a 9x9 pan :). This is SO good, I love tiramisu so much. The recipe usessimple ingredients but is so rich. I just used a 9x9 pan and baked it the same temp. for 23 minutes in my toaster oven (no need to heat up the kitchen!). I even mesed up the recipe by accidentally flavoring the full 3 1/2 cups of cream cheese mix instead of halving it..but it still turned fine :). Great recipe!