White Chocolate Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

A dense, ivory-white cheesecake built on melted white chocolate, marbled with a thick raspberry reduction that stays bright red instead of bleeding pink. The trick is a puree cooked down and cooled until it's jam-thick, then dropped in spoonfuls and dragged exactly once — a restaurant-dessert-cart finish you can absolutely nail at home with a springform pan and a water bath.

Ingredients

• 12 oz frozen raspberries (or fresh)
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp cornstarch
• 1 tbsp cold water

• 9 oz graham crackers (about 15 full sheets), crushed to fine crumbs
• 3 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 7 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

• 8 oz good white chocolate (couverture bar or callets, at least 28% cocoa butter), chopped
• 32 oz full-fat block cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3 tbsp cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 cup sour cream, room temperature
• 1/2 cup heavy cream, warmed
• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp lemon zest

• 1/2 cup heavy cream, cold
• 1 tbsp powdered sugar
• 6 oz fresh raspberries
• 1 oz white chocolate, for shaving

Instructions

1. Make the raspberry swirl first so it has time to cool completely. Combine the raspberries, 1/3 cup sugar, and lemon juice in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook 8–10 minutes, mashing with a spoon, until the berries collapse and the mixture bubbles actively.
2. Press the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, scraping hard with a flexible spatula; discard the seeds. You should have about 3/4 cup of smooth puree. Return it to the pan.
3. Whisk the cornstarch into the cold water until smooth, then whisk it into the puree. Bring to a boil over medium heat and cook, stirring constantly, for 60–90 seconds, until the puree is glossy and thick enough that a spoon dragged through the bottom of the pan leaves a trail that holds for 2 seconds. It should mound on a spoon like loose jam. This thickness is what keeps the swirl red instead of bleeding pink into the batter. Scrape into a small bowl, press plastic wrap onto the surface, and cool to room temperature (refrigerate 20 minutes if you're in a hurry, then let it come back to spreadable).
4. Heat the oven to 325°F with a rack in the lower third. Wrap the outside bottom of a 9-inch springform pan with a large sheet of heavy-duty foil, crimping it up the sides, then line the bottom inside with a parchment round. Set a kettle of water on to boil.
5. Crust: stir the graham crumbs, 3 tbsp sugar, and 1/4 tsp salt together, then pour in the melted butter and mix until it looks like damp sand. Press firmly into the bottom and 1 inch up the sides of the pan, using the flat bottom of a measuring cup to compact it. Bake 10 minutes, until fragrant and set. Cool on a rack while you make the filling; leave the oven on.
6. Melt the white chocolate gently: place it in a heatproof bowl set over 1 inch of barely simmering water, off the heat if the water is boiling hard. Stir until smooth and no warmer than 110°F — white chocolate scorches and goes grainy above about 115°F. Set aside somewhere warm so it stays fluid.
7. In a stand mixer with the paddle (or a large bowl with a hand mixer), beat the cream cheese on medium-low for 2 minutes until completely smooth with no lumps. Scrape the bowl and paddle. Add the 1 cup sugar, 3 tbsp cornstarch, and 1/2 tsp salt and beat 2 minutes more on medium-low, scraping twice. Keep the speed low throughout — whipped-in air is what cracks cheesecakes.
8. Beat in the sour cream, then stream in the warm heavy cream. With the mixer on low, pour in the melted white chocolate in a steady stream and mix just until uniform. (If the batter seizes or looks speckled, your cream cheese was too cold; warm the bowl over the water bath for 30 seconds while stirring.)
9. Add the eggs one at a time on the lowest speed, mixing only 15–20 seconds after each — just until the yolk streaks disappear. Mix in the vanilla and lemon zest. Give the batter a final stir by hand with a spatula, scraping the bottom of the bowl, then tap the bowl on the counter a few times to release air bubbles.
10. Pour about two-thirds of the batter over the cooled crust and smooth the top. Drop 8–10 teaspoon-size dollops of the cooled raspberry puree over the surface, spacing them apart. Add the remaining batter, smooth gently, and dollop another 8 teaspoons of puree on top, staggering them between the ones below.
11. Swirl with restraint: hold a wooden skewer or the tip of a paring knife vertically, sink it just 1/2 inch into the batter, and drag it through each dollop in one continuous lazy S from one side of the pan to the other. Make three or four passes total, wiping the skewer clean between passes. Stop there — every extra pass thins the red into pink haze. Leave a few dollops untouched for definition.
12. Set the springform in a roasting pan, slide it into the oven, and pour boiling water into the roasting pan to come 1 inch up the sides of the springform. Bake 80–95 minutes, until the outer 2 inches are set and the center 3 inches jiggle as one soft mass when you nudge the pan; an instant-read thermometer inserted 1 inch from the edge should read 150–155°F.
13. Turn the oven off, prop the door open a few inches, and leave the cheesecake in its water bath for 1 hour. Then lift the pan out, peel away the foil, and run a thin knife around the very top edge to release any stuck rim. Cool on a rack to room temperature, about 2 hours.
14. Cover loosely and refrigerate at least 8 hours, ideally overnight — the white chocolate needs the full chill to firm up. To serve, run a hot, dry knife around the sides, release the ring, and cut with a knife rinsed in hot water and wiped dry between every slice.
15. If finishing: whip the cold cream with the powdered sugar to soft peaks, pipe or spoon it around the border, and top with fresh raspberries and white chocolate shaved with a vegetable peeler.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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