Beachgirl's Cheesecake Help

[valf]

Yesterday I made Beachgirl's Basic Cheesecake with Artisan Coffee Roasters Chocolate Raspberry. The texture is super creamy (sticks to knife), but the cream cheese sort of sour flavor is most prevalent. I used 1 cup plus 2 tsp. syrup. Oh yeah, and I forgot about the sour cream and lemon juice till after the eggs, but did get them in before baking. I made a half pecan/half almond crust with Splenda, cocoa butter and butter - wonderful!!! Put a pan of water on the shelf below my 8.5 springform pan. The top was beautiful. No browning, cracking or wrinkling! The cheesecake is very high, 1/2" crust and 1.75" filling. Just beautiful, but not the right flavor. Can someone help?

Also, do you know how much of which syrup to use to get Orange Dreamsicle, Almond Joy and Chocolate Chip Cookie cheescakes? I have these flavors.
Coconut
french vanilla
hazelnut
orange
raspberry
english toffee
B-52
banana
cookie dough
toasted marshmallow
peanut butter
spice
pineapple
spiced chai
caramel
irish cream
chocolate
chocolate raspberry

Thanks!
Val

[valf]

I made a half pecan/half almond crust with Splenda, cocoa butter and butter

OOPS! that's cocoa powder, not cocoa butter!
Val

[justforme]

It may have been your sugar free syrup. I found the Artisan brand to be rather weak. When I made a raspberry cheesecake it wasn't even sweet and certainly didn't taste like raspberry.

[valf]

Thanks! Tomorrow I am making another with DaVinci brand. I think I will try coconut.
Val

[valf]

Bumping to try to get an answer to this question -
Also, do you know how much of which syrup to use to get Orange Dreamsicle, Almond Joy and Chocolate Chip Cookie cheescakes?

Thanks!
Val

[cabrioluvr]

to me it takes a lot of any syrup to make it sweet enough - I tried the 1 cup of syrup in the last one and didn't like it - was just not sweet enough for me

[Tall_Texan]

I made the exact same cheesecake and ended up throwing some in the trash it was so bad. I have made Beachgirl's cheesecakes before with granular Splenda and they turned out great. I think it's the Artisans syrup - I don't think it's sweet enough. What I am very tempted to do from here on out is make the basic cheesecake and then make different flavored toppings. I am going to splurge on the extra carbs for the Splenda, to me it's worth it in both texture and taste.

[dizneegirl]

I usually supplement the syrup (I prefer the texture with the syrup, rather than Splenda) with a few packets of Splenda, locarbman's liquid stevia, or liquid Splenda/syrup base to make the cheesecake sweet enough.

I don't think the Artisan brand is as flavorful as DaVinci's, either. Shame, since they're $1 cheaper.

For an almond joy cheesecake, I'd make a coconut cheesecake, and top with chocolate sauce and sliced almonds, personally.

Orange dreamsicle would be a creamy vanilla and orange flavor... probably 2/3 vanilla, 1/3 orange or so. Might have to experiment with a smaller batch to get that one right.

Don't know about the choc. chip cookie dough. Never tried the syrup... don't know how close it would be. I might try making a french vanilla cheesecake and adding sf chocolate chips (or cut-up candy bar). Maybe even make a half batch of chocolate chunk cookie dough, and drop bits of it in the cheesecake batter? Sounds like a challenge.

[tennhoneybee]

I used the granular Splenda. It turned out perfect and it was the first time I've even made this, but sure won't be the last

[valf]

Thanks! I think maybe I should have put the vanilla in and will try that today (UPS finally showed up with my netrition order - two days later than tracking showed). So for almond joy, I will use coconut DaVinci, use the vanilla too, add ground almonds to the batter and use the chocolate almond crust.
I'll let you know how wonderful it turns out!
Val

[valf]

I did as I said, but also added two tablespoons of Splenda. It is wonderful! The ground almonds in the batter even give it a coconutty texture.
Val

[Twokitty]

Val,
Your crust sounds delicious -- do you have an exact recipe as I've never used one and it sounds so good.

Never heard of the Artisan syrup but wonder if you could boil it down to make it stronger next time especially if you have a lot of this product. I have the strong liquid splenda so use half DaVinci and half sweetener. And there are lots of flavorings available if you need a stronger flavor to use up your Artisan or any.

[valf]

Hi, Twokitty! I got the crust recipe off of this forum. It is so good! I have made it with all almonds and with half almonds/half pecans. I like the half/half better.

2 cups ground nuts (I ground them myself in the 1 cup food chopper)
2 tablespoons granular Splenda
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa
4 tablespoons melted butter

Mix all together and press into pie plate or bottom of springform pan. You can add more cocoa or Splenda to taste.

I'm thinking about trying to add beaten egg white to this mixture and making "nutty cookies". I haven't had the courage to try it yet!

Val

[Twokitty]

Thanks. It's been awhile since I've made a cheesecake, so here goes.