Red Velvet Cheesecake

I came up with this recipe after looking in Junior’s Cheesecake book last year and saw that he had a Carrot Cake cheesecake and I thought that a Red Velvet Cheesecake would be fabulous if made the same way. I even submitted it to the Food Network when they were doing the Ultimate Recipe Showdown. So i made it for my family and it was a hit….and its one of my most requested cheesecakes. Its a little time consuming but its worth it!

Red Velvet Cheesecake

Ingredients

Red Velvet Cake:
2 Â½ cups all purpose flour
Â½ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
2 Tbsp cocoa
One 1oz bottle red food coloring
2 sticks butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 Â½ tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp white vinegar
2 cups chopped pecans for garnish (optional)
Cheesecake:
2 1/2 lb. cream cheese
1/2 lb. sugar
1/2 lb. sour cream
1/2 oz. vanilla
1/2 oz. lemon juice
5 eggs
Cream cheese frosting:
Three 8oz pkg cream cheese
2 sticks butter
5 cups sifted confectioners sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat oven 350 degrees. Prepare cheesecake and pour in a greased 9-inch spring form pan wrapped in tin foil. Place pan in hot water bath about one inch and bake for 1 hour 20 minutes. Cool on wire rack for 2 Â½ hours. Once cooled cover in plastic wrap and place in freezer for 2 hours. Meanwhile, prepare red velvet cake. Grease 2 9-inch round cake pans and bake for 20 minutes. Cool in pans for 15 minutes, turn out on wire rack and cool completely for 1 hour. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate. When its time to assemble cake remove cake from freezer and let stand at room temp for 20 minutes. Prepare cream cheese frosting.
To assemble cheesecake, place on layer top side down and spread with 1/3 cup of frosting. Place cheesecake top side down on top of frosted cake and spread with some frosting. Put remaining layer of cake on top of cheesecake and frost top and sides with remaining frosting. Garnish with chopped pecans. Refrigerate until ready to serve.