Cheesecake With Blackberry Lavender Swirl

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Blackberry Season-

It’s getting to be the time of year again for blackberries. The wild ones that grow all around my little island won’t be ready for a while longer, but my local market is starting to carry the farm raised ones now. Until I can walk up the road to pick some, I will have to use the store bought variety for this Cheesecake with Blackberry Lavender Swirl.

In my corner of the world, berries and lavender are a big deal. I live near two large lavender farms, and I am surrounded by berries. Since cheesecake is appropriate any time of year, I felt it only fitting to combine them all into one lovely dessert. If you are looking for more recipes utilizing blackberries, my Salad With Fried Goat Cheese is a great one!

Recipe Tips

One of the long list of things I love about cheesecake is its versatility. You can add just about anything you want to the batter. It can become sweet, savory, citrus, chocolate, or anything else you can imagine. For this particular cheesecake, I wanted a fresh milky flavor that would not compete too much with the swirl, so I didn’t add any citrus zest or vanilla extract that are rather common in plain cheesecakes. There will be extra Blackberry Lavender Sauce left over, so feel free to top your slice of cheesecake with some. I don’t think you could ever have too much!

If you don’t happen to have any sour cream on hand, you can substitute creme fraiche! You can make creme fraiche very easily in your own kitchen, and in my post How to Make Creme Fraiche I show you just how easy it is!

Preventing Cracks

There are a couple of things that I believe intimidate most people about baking cheesecakes. The first: cracks. The second: a water bath. The latter is typically used to prevent the former. But I am here to tell you it doesn’t have to be this way. There are other ways to prevent cracks. The first one: make sure that all of your cold ingredients such as dairy and eggs are at room temperature before you start to mix your batter. This ensures that your ingredients are properly incorporated, and proper blending can go a long way toward preventing cracks. You might be asking yourself, why do I care? I can just put lemon curd or some sort of sauce on top. Well, this is very true. However, if I am going to go to the trouble of making a cheesecake, I might as well take extra steps to see that the top doesn’t look like the Grand Canyon.

Bake it Low and Slow

The second thing you can do to keep those cracks at bay: cook your cheesecake low and slow. Don’t let the long bake time get you down, its worth it. You can let this bake while you relax and watch a movie, or do some household chores. I wouldn’t recommend leaving it in the oven while you run errands, but there are things you can do while this cooks to pass the time. Something I love about this cooking method is that at such a low temperature, it is not going to heat up your house the way a much higher bake temp will. I prefer a cool house when the weather is warm.

Try Something New

If you have never made a cheesecake before, I really encourage you to give it a try. You may just impress yourself with your abilities. If you want to cook this without the swirl and just serve the sauce on top, you most certainly can! The cooking method and instructions don’t change, except for leaving out the step of adding the swirl. So now that blackberry season is upon us, do something good for yourself. Go berry picking, and make this Cheesecake with Blackberry Lavender Swirl!