French Silk Cheesecake Pie for Dad! Chake, Chike, Pake? Whatever you call it, call it Darn Good!

It’s Father’s Day this weekend! Time to celebrate all the Dads in our lives. What better way to celebrate than with a sweet, creamy, decadent cheesecake pie? Or chike, chake, pake, or how about just cheesecake pie. I don’t know what our obsession is with combining words to create new ridiculous words. Anyway, for my Dad, who always says don’t get me anything, cheesecake pie is perfect. French silk pie is one of his favorite pies. I have made him them in the past. However, this time I wanted to take it up another level. How about French Silk Pie combined with delicious creamy cheesecake? I went with it and it was good! The crust layer is a shortbread crust to hold up the creamy vanilla cheesecake and the next layer is light as air chocolate mousse all topped off with some whipped cream and some chocolate decorations! Sounds delish right? Well it is!

My Dad is very low-maintenance, doesn’t need much, doesn’t want much but to make his kids happy. Always tells us “don’t buy me anything, I don’t need anything, I just want to you to be a good girl” Ha-ha, most of the time I am…. 🙂 Any way, we usually do get him a little something. Last year, my brother and his wife were in town from California, staying with my dad, working on their mobile school bus home. Long story, I can’t get into it now. I thought it would be nice for all of us kids (4 of us total) and the grand-kids (3 currently) and my mom, the ex-wife, could all come out by my dad and have a nice BBQ with the whole family! Well my dad only has this mini-weber charcoal grill that maybe can fit two chicken breasts on it.  So, I had all the kids pitch in and get him a grown-up size brand-new charcoal weber grill. Plus, all the tools that go along with it! So that’s what we did and surprised my Dad. He certainly doesn’t like a fuss made over him and doesn’t want us to spend any money on him. He was like, you guys didn’t have to do this. I have my little grill. Any who, I think that was the first and last time he used the full-sized grill. He likes the mini. Money well spent!  We did have a wonderful time with the whole family and my Dad was happy having us all there. My youngest niece had the quote of the day “this is the best Father’s Day ever”.So, for this Father’s Day, maybe we can make it an annual tradition and use the Big Girl Grill! Regardless, we will eat, drink, eat some more, laugh, then laugh some more and eat this chake, pike, cheesecake pie for Dad. This should be made ahead of time, there are several components,  so it can set in the fridge overnight. Which I always prefer anything I can do ahead of an event. Plus, I will be making some more appetizers and such, so it’s perfect to make ahead and I don’t have to worry about it on the day of.

For the chocolate curls, just melt some chocolate with a tablespoon or so of shortening, combine, then spread a thin layer of chocolate over the back of a sheet pan. Place in the freezer for about 15 to 20 minutes, then take a metal spatula or off-set spatula and push the chocolate from one end to the other creating curls. Place the curls in the freezer until ready to decorate. They do melt. I then used left-over melted chocolate to just make swirls in a circle on some parchment paper and placed in the freezer to set. Again, add to cake right before serving.

I hope you will be spending time with Dads  in your life eating, drinking, laughing and making this cheesecake pie!

 Enjoy

Diane

French Silk Cheesecake Pie for Dad!

 

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Prep time

4 hours

Cook time

35 mins

Total time

4 hours 35 mins

 

This rich, smooth, creamy delight will have all your senses going. With the first layer of buttery shortbread, beneath a vanilla cheesecake, topped with light as air chocolate mousse and just because why not, finished with stiffly whipped whip cream! You're welcome!

Author: Diane

Serves: 8 to 10

Ingredients

• For the Crust:
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• ¼ tsp. salt
• ⅓ cup confectioners sugar
• ½ cup cold unsalted butter cubed
• For the Cheesecake:
• 16 oz. cream cheese, room temp
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 2 large eggs room temp
• 1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped and reserved
• 8¼ ounces mascarpone cheese, room temp
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• Chocolate Mousse:
• 6 oz. dark chocolate, 70%, melted
• 1 cup unsalted butter softened
• 1½ cups ultrafine sugar, also called baker's sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. instant espresso
• 4 large eggs room temp.
• Whipped Topping:
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 tbsp. granulated sugar

Instructions

1. For the crust:
2. Lightly butter, or spray with a non stick vegetable spray, a 9 inch springform pan.
3. In your food processor, place the flour, sugar, and salt and process to combine. Add the cold butter and pulse until the pastry starts to come together and form clumps.
4. Transfer the pastry to the prepared pan and, using your fingertips, evenly press the pastry onto the bottom of the pan. Gently pierce the bottom of the crust with the tines of a fork. Cover and place the pastry crust in the freezer for 15 minutes to chill.
5. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and place rack in the center of the oven.
6. Place the pan on a larger baking sheet and bake the crust until golden brown, about 13 - 15 minutes. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. It is now ready to be filled.
7. For the cheesecake:
8. Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees. Place cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on medium until smooth, about 2 mintues. Scrap down sides of bowl and add the sugar and salt gradually while on medium. Scrape down sides of bowl and add the eggs one at a time and mix after each addition.
9. Add the vanilla beans and mascarpone and mix until smooth and no lumps remain.
10. Pour some of the filling until about half-way up the side of the pan. You will have left over filling. Save for another use (mini cheesecakes?).
11. Wrap the bottom of the pan with tinfoil and place pan in large roasting pan and fill almost half-way up with hot/boiling water.
12. Bake cheesecake 30 to 40 minutes until set. Center will be slightly jiggly. Remove and allow to cool completely at room temp and refrigerate until cold, at least 2 hours before you move on to the next layer.
13. Chocolate Mousse:
14. In a microwave safe bowl, melt the chocolate in 30 second intervals. Set aside.
15. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on high until light and fluffy, and pale about 5 to 7 minutes.
16. Add the vanilla, espresso, salt and cooled chocolate. Beat on high until fully incorporated and fluffy. Scrape down sides of bowl as needed.
17. Switch to the whisk attachment. Add the eggs one at time and beat for 5 minutes before adding the next egg. Whole thing will take 20 minutes. After 20 minutes make sure mixture is silky and smooth with no graininess.
18. Pour mousse mixture over chilled cheesecake layer. Fill almost to the top, leaving a little room. Again, you will have left over mousse to use how you like.
19. Cover and place back in the fridge for 4 hours to overnight.
20. Whipped Topping:
21. In a clean bowl of stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Add the heavy cream, sugar and vanilla.
22. Whip until stiff peaks form. Careful not to go too far or you will have butter.
23. Decorate the chilled cheesecake as desired, I chose to pipe, but it would look just as nice free form. Chill for 1 to 2 hours before serving. Store any left overs covered in the fridge for up to 3 days.

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