RED VELVET CHEESECAKE

MOVE OVER CHEESECAKE FACTORY...........

RED VELVET BROWNIE LAYERS (two 9-INCH LAYER)

2 sticks butter
3 cups sugar
4 eggs
4 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 T. cocoa powder
4 T red food coloring (I used red food color paste so in that case, less than 2T)

Preheat oven to 350. Spray two 9-inch round pans, line with parchment and spray again. In a small bowl, mix cocoa powder, food coloring and vanilla to form a paste. Set aside.
In a mixer, cream butter and sugar till fluffy. Add eggs. On low, mix in the cocoa powder paste, flour and salt. Mix only until combined. Spread evenly in the pans and bake 25-30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely.

Crustless Cheesecake portion:

2 sticks softened butter
1 cup granulated sugar
4- 8 oz packages cream cheese, softened
1- 3 oz. package cook and serve vanilla pudding
4 eggs
2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp lemon juice

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease two 9" pans with shortening, line the pans with parchment and then grease the parchment. Lightly flour the pans and tap out excess over the sink. Set aside.

Cream butter and sugar in a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Add cream cheese a little at a time until smooth. Scrape bowl down and beat again on medium speed, adding eggs one at a time. Add remaining ingredients. Mix again until smooth. Divide batter evenly between pans. You should have 8 cups of batter, so 4 cups in each pan. Smooth batter with offset spatula and bake for 55 minutes to 1 hour. Cheesecake will puff up during baking, then deflate when taken out.

Do not turn out cheesecakes when they are finished baking. Put them directly in the freezer, and leave until frozen solid. Turn out frozen cheesecake layers and peel parchment from the bottoms. Line the pan they were in with enough parchment or wax paper to hang over the sides of the pan. Place the cheesecakes back in the pans. Keep in fridge until ready to layer.

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White Chocolate Frosting: You may have extra depending how much frosting you like in your layers. I have also skipped this layer and instead made a whipped cream and folded in some white chocolate. Just another idea!

2 sticks butter, at room temperature
5 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 tsp. vanilla
8 ounces white chocolate, melted (melt slowly & carefully in microwave)
3 tablespoons milk (approx.)

Cream butter in mixer till fluffy. Add vanilla. On low, mix in powdered sugar, then white chocolate. Add milk to reach desired consistency. Whip on medium a few seconds till fluffy.

Assembly-place cheesecake layer on platter first. Spread with frosting. Then top with red velvet brownie layer. Repeat frosting and layers. Top the cake with extra frosting or just powdered sugar. Serve with a nice big dollop of whipped cream. YUMMMMMMMY!!!!!!!

Recipe shout outs to http://thatskinnychickcanbake.blogspot.com/ and http://www.sprinklebakes.com/2011/03/peanut-butter-cup-chocolate-cake.html and http://cookiesxo.blogspot.com/

LINKING UP AT http://www.thirtysixthavenue.com/ AND http://deelicioussweets.blogspot.com/2011/08/deessert-blog-hop.html AND http://mangoesandchutney.com/2011/08/fat-camp-friday-40-cranberry-chicken-salad.html AND ALLI N SON AND http://www.makeaheadmealsforbusymoms.com/melt-in-your-mouth-monday-26/ AND http://www.thesaturdayeveningpot.com/ AND http://permanentposies.com/ AND http://creatingreallyawesomefreethings.com/