Red Velvet Cake Cheesecake for National Cheesecake Day!

Cake and Cheesecake are my two favorite desserts.. and with dessert, I get both. It's like 2 in 1. Perfect. You can do any type of cheesecake or cake combination you like. For example, chocolate cake with peanut butter cheesecake. This is one of my most asked for desserts, it looks impressive, but it's actually pretty simple. Let's start out with the cheesecake layer. Here's what you'll need

A boat load of cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, eggs, and sour cream. Place cream cheese and sugar in a large mixing bowl

Beat on low speed until combined, then turn up to medium and beat until fluffy, about a minute. Add vanilla and sour cream

Mix until combined, then add eggs, one at a time

Beat well after each addition. Pour cheesecake batter into a greased springform pan

Bake and cool. Refrigerate about 2 hours. While the baked cheesecake is chilling, prepare the cake layer. I've already made this exact red velvet cake recipe in cupcakes so I didn't take pictures. Here's the link to the recipe http://kysweettoothsisters.blogspot.com/2011/04/red-velvet-cupcakes.html. 

The only thing you need to do differently is use 2 round cake pans (what ever size the springform pan is. For example, if you are using a 9-inch springform pan for the cheesecake, you should use 9-inch cake pans for the cake.) Once you have baked your cakes, flip them out of the pans onto wax paper lined cooling racks to cool completely. Now for the last step before assembling, prepare the cream cheese frosting. I've also made cream cheese frosting before so I didn't take step by step pictures of this process either. It shows how to make it in the same link above. Sorry if all of that was super confusing, I did the best I could.. 

So you now have all 3 parts of the dessert made and ready to go. It's time to assemble your red velvet cake cheesecake! Place one layer of the red velvet cake on the serving plate you are going to use. Cover with 1/4 of the cream cheese frosting

Set the cheesecake gently on top of the frosting. Be VERY careful, the cheesecake could split in half, not speaking from personal experience or anything... Now slab on a layer of frosting over the cheesecake. This is a little tricky because the cheesecake is slick

Now stack on the last cake layer and frost all the tops and sides of the cake cheesecake. If desired you can decorate it somehow. I chopped white bakers chocolate and covered the sides and tops in the chopped chocolate. Here's the inside of the Red Velvet Cake Cheesecake

Cut yourself a huge piece, eat the whole thing, and don't regret it :)

Store in refrigerator. 

Red Velvet Cake Cheesecake

Cheesecake:

3 (8 oz. pkgs) cream cheese, softened

1 cup sour cream

2 Tbs. vanilla

3 eggs

In a large mixing bowl, beat together cream cheese and sugar on low speed until combined. Once combined, beat on medium speed until fluffy, about 1 minute. Mix in sour cream and vanilla. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Once your cheesecake batter is finished, pour into a greased 9-inch round spring form pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour 15 minutes. Turn oven off and open door slightly. Remove cheesecake from oven and let cool completely. Prepare the other parts of the cheesecake cake while cooling.

Cake:

2 1/2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1 Tbs. cocoa powder

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

1 cup buttermilk

1 Tbs. vinegar

2 tsp. vanilla

2 oz. red food coloring

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda; set aside. In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, oil, buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla, and food coloring. Pour the wet mixture over the dry mixture. Stir together until combined. Pour into 2 9-inch round greased cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-28 minutes or until done the cake is set in the middle. Take out of the oven to cool. Flip cakes out of the pans onto a wax paper lined wire wrack. Cool completely. While cooling, prepare the frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

8 ounces cream cheese

1 stick unsalted butter

2 tsp. vanilla

3 3/4 cups powdered sugar

In a mixing bowl, beat together cream cheese and butter until fluffy and smooth. (Usually, when I make frosting I make sure the butter and cream cheese are soft. This time when I made the frosting, I only let the cream cheese and butter sit about about 15-20 minutes. When I started making the frosting they were both still hard, but I just beat them together for a while with the mixer and believe it or not, cream cheese frosting has never turned out better for me.) Mix in the vanilla. Lastly, add the powdered sugar about a cup at a time, beating well after each addition and making sure there are no lumps. Now put together the cake.

Assemble: 

Place one of the red velvet cake layers on the serving plate you choose to use. Scoop 1/4 of the frosting on that layer and spread out evenly. Gently set the cheesecake over the frosting. Carefully spread 1/4 of the frosting on the cheesecake (be careful, the frosting will be hard to spread over the cheesecake because it is slick. If you're having trouble, just be patient, it will spread out eventually. Now set the last cake layer over the frosted cheesecake. Use the rest of the frosting to cover the tops and sides of the cheesecake cake. Decorate if desired. Store in fridge, enjoy :)