Raspberry Cheesecake

and some sorbet notes

Aug 08, 2025

new on bbs

Raspberry Cheesecake

Creamy tart raspberry cheesecake made with reduced raspberries for an intense berry flavor. Housed in a graham cracker crust and topped with thick vanilla whipped cream and fresh raspberries.

raz it up

Raspberry Lemon Bars

Lemon bars, but let’s add raspberries! Raspberry lemon curd baked atop a buttery shortbread crust. The bars look like pink lemonade bars and the flavor is wonderfully bright and tart.

Raspberry Lemon Cake

The softest lemon cake split into fluffy layers, studded with fresh raspberries and layered with a tart, smooth lemon curd.

Raspberry Curd Tart

Smooth lush raspberry curd which bursts with tart berry and a hint of tangy lemon in an enriched, short flake crust. Top as you wish, but don’t forget the fresh berries!

From the August Archives

2024: Homemade Marshmallows

2023: Everyday Brown Butter Cake

2022: A Basic Guide to Swiss Meringue

2021: Caramelized White Chocolate Ice Cream

2020: Caramel Apple Pavlova & Poppyseed Lemon Ice Cream with Blueberry

a baker’s review

“I made these into muffins following your instructions and they turned out simply.. perfect. I love when that happens! Two of us finished the whole batch in a few days. I used farmer’s market zucchini, good quality olive oil and valrhona cocoa. So moist, perfect crumb, and not too sweet. They don’t NEED the chocolate chips but I think I will add them next time. Thank you! I’ll be making this on repeat for the rest of summer.” Keli on Chocolate Zucchini Bread

recommended weekly reads

“Using my background as a food blogger I began experimenting with the limited ingredients available. I tested different recipes and looked for ways to create flavors with what little I had, trying to make each meal feel special. At first the portions were tiny, but the reactions from the children changed everything. They would take a hesitant first bite, their faces still heavy with the trauma of war, and then break into smiles. They started asking for seconds, and sometimes they would ask when I would return with more… In recent weeks, I have spent most of my time helping distribute clean drinking water because it is the only thing I can still do. The children I used to cook for still come to me asking when I will make food again and it breaks my heart to tell them I cannot. But I hold on to the hope that one day soon I will be able to cook for them again and see their faces light up the way they used to.” Hamada Sho: I Can No Longer Feed Kids in Gaza, Time Magazine.
“Within the community and outside of it, the children of these couples were called “half and halves,” half Punjabi, half Mexican. Their fathers labored long hours in the fields, so raising the children was often left to the mothers, and the new generation grew up as predominantly Spanish speakers in the Catholic faith. But when the men returned home, they still expected their families to eat Punjabi food. So the Mexican women learned to cook Punjabi meals for their husbands, but adapted the dishes to use more familiar or local ingredients.” California’s Lost (and Found) Punjabi Mexican Cuisine, Eater. [I grew up eating both mexican and indian food, early on my husband and I bonded over an agreement that no other cuisine could top either; so every dish mentioned here sounds delicious. There is a local restaurant near us which does a similar fusion and we love it.]
Book rec: Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan, published in 2002. Set in the ‘30s, a young mexican girl loses her father and consequently their family’s financial stability. Under threat, she and her mother must flee to find work in CA where they grapple with the grueling days working in the fields, racism, and constant threats of deportation. Each chapter is organized around a type of produce and it’s season. I read this to 8 about a month ago and still think about it, given this political climate and very real migrants being unjustly deported and detained.

a baker’s note: on chocolate sorbetto

I mentioned last week that my family and I went on a little trip. We spent much of the time outdoors and in the evenings cooled down with ice cream. My daughters are adorably predictable when faced with a counter of options: 8 looks only at the chocolate flavors and usually goes for mint chocolate or plain chocolate. She gobbles it up, down to the last lick. 5 looks only at the berry flavors and if none appeal, also gets chocolate but leaves at least half of it in the bowl. One of our post-hike treats had both of them opting for a a very dark and smooth chocolate sorbet and I got the second half of 5’s cup. The sorbet was exquisite, so good I was smitten and thought about it for days.

Yesterday I thought I’d make some and sat to examine the different chocolate sorbet recipes online and noticed they’re all fairly the same: a little over 2 cups water boiled with 1 cup sugar, 1/2-3/4 cups cocoa powder (most opted for the greater amount), six ounces of chocolate, and an extract and a liqueur (the latter keeps the ice cream from freezing too solid).

A few of the recipes mention Ina or David, but most don’t share an original inspiration/adaptation. The method is the same: making a simple syrup (common to sorbets) and then, if using, adding cocoa to bloom it (for a deeper flavor, but it also helps remove the graininess) and, if chocolate is in included, it is chopped and subsequently stirred into the hot liquid where it melts.

I kept digging, and the earliest recipe I found for a chocolate sorbet comes from Pierre Hermé: the method is the same but Hermé keeps it really simple, using just sugar, water, and lots of chocolate. I did see a few people mention a graininess to the ice cream so I wanted to avoid that.

This am I decided to go for it and stay close to Hermé’s, with some slight modifications: 150g or 3/4 cups brown sugar, 2 tablespoons dark corn syrup (in lieu of liquor so it would stay super smooth - this is also why I reduced the sugar), about 220g dark 70% chocolate, I did add some cocoa because I couldn’t help myself but only 2 tablespoons of dutch, and then ofc some vanilla (around 2 teaspoons - I tend to splash vanilla rather than teaspoon it, lol) and some fine sea salt. I blended the chocolate in with an immersion blender to avoid that graininess, and didn’t chill the base for as long as I should have before I churned it (it’s been over a year since I was able to use my machine, I was excited!) so I had to extend the churn time.

a few process pics:

The ice cream is now freezing and still ultra soft. Since it hasn’t been too long since I set it in there, I can’t tell how hard it will freeze yet (if I remember, I’ll update you next week). I did have some (couldn’t resist!) and it is very, very close to the one we tried last week: a rich, deep chocolate flavor though not quite as dark in color. I think it might be just a tad too sweet, so if I do it again I' might reduce the sugar, but keep the corn syrup (once I find out if it’s doing it’s job at that ratio in keeping the sorbet from hardening).

sam