Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake

My mom's birthday was last Wednesday, and when I asked her what she'd like for dessert, she told me cheesecake, raspberry or strawberry cheesecake. I decided on raspberry and set out to find a great recipe on Pinterest, which I thought would be an easy job.

Would you believe that finding a recipe for a great raspberry cheesecake is hard? Many of the pictures were just that....pictures...no recipe. Other pictures linked to recipes but the cheesecake was either written in metric units, which I can't convert, or were no-bake versions, not what I was looking for. Finally, I turned to my trusted friend Martha (Stewart) to help me bake my cheesecake and once again, she didn't disappoint me.

So here it is:

Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake
adapted from Martha Stewart

You'll need:

1 cup finely ground graham crackers
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 3/4 cups sugar
6 ounces raspberries
32 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs, room temperature

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Wrap the exterior of a nine inch springform pan in a double layer of foil.

Stir together graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, and 2 Tablespoons of the sugar.

Press firmly into the bottom of the pan.

Bake until set, about 10 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.

Reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees.

Process the raspberries in a food processor until smooth, about 30 seconds. Martha suggests straining the pureed berries to remove the seeds, but I just left the raspberries as they were, seeds and all. Whisk in 2 Tablespoons of the sugar.

Mix the cream cheese with a paddle attachment on medium until fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Reduce to the speed to low and add the remaining 1 1/2 cups of sugar in a slow, steady stream, then add the salt and vanilla. Add the eggs 1 at a time just until combined....Don't over mix the batter.

Pour the filling over the crust.

Drop the raspberry filling with a teaspoon on top of the cream cheese mixture. Martha suggests using a skewer or toothpick (which I used) to swirl the raspberry and cream cheese together. The toothpick doesn't get down far enough into the cream cheese, in my opinion. After I put it in the oven, I realized using a knife would have worked better.

Set the springform pan into a shallow roasting pan and place it in the oven. Ladle in boiling water halfway up the sides of the cheesecake pan. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes (Check it after 1 hour to make sure that it is not done....mine was still not done in the center and so I left it in for an additional 15 minutes) The cake should be set, but the center will still be a little wobbly when it is done.

Cool the cheesecake on rack.

Refrigerate the cheesecake after it has cooled for 6 hours to overnight.

Run a knife around the edge of the cheesecake before removing it from the pan to get it out cleanly.