k-is-bananas-4-love foster cheesecake

in a sea of bananas and dulce de leche laced with rum,
how could they not live happily ever after?

who, i ask you, had the bright idea of making a cheesecake [high fat and dairy laden, requiring the use of an oven cranked up to 350 degrees for over 2 hours in an apartment that is excellent at retaining heat (but only during the summer) and cold (but only during the winter)] on the first miserably sticky, hot night of the year?

oh yeah. me.

it was for k whom i sweated and slaved for. it is a further testament of my love for her that i will be traipsing down to a hellishly hot and humid florida next weekend - my least favorite state - to sweat and slave further as a bridesmaid in a silk shantung gown (with pit stains) and gold matte kitten heels (with blisters). oh, quit my bitching. i know i'll have a good time - as long as i am properly air-conditioned and not made to leave the house between the hours of 10am and 3pm. if it is necessary that i leave the house during these hours, for a bridesmaids' luncheon say, i must be accompanied by an attractive, attentive male who will carry my bags, fan me with palm fronds, and be at the ready with an evian atomizer to spritz should the need arise.

oh...i digress.

the cheesecake, the cheesecake.

k loves bananas foster. so, in the past year, for various reasons - a dinner party, a birthday, an engagement - i made her some version of this drunken dish. first, for a dinner party at my apt, i made the original bananas foster, served over vanilla ice cream with Crunch-a-Munch as a topper. then, for her birthday, i made her Bananas Foster Cake - the cake part from a mix, but enriched with milk, butter, and eggs and drenched in rum and topped with bananas. nummy! pretty sure we had vanilla ice cream then too. (vanilla ice cream pretty much makes every dessert better, doesn't it?) when it came time to commemorate The Urban Family's last dinner soiree (not so swank - we ordered Burritoville) before k lost her maiden name - her maidenhead having been lost years ago - i decided nothing but the richest, most fat laden would do.

bananas foster cheesecake it was. i got the original recipe at epicurious.com, but i made some adjustments. most notably, i did it all in a Cuisinart, and sipped a vodka gimlet simultaneously. indeed, there is no end to the talents i possess.

here's how i did it.

K-IS-BANANAS-FOR-LOVE FOSTER CHEESECAKE

Crust
3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup pecans (i used walnuts - why is it so hard to find pecans in queens?)
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted - screw it, i used salted.
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons (packed) golden brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Filling
1 8-ounce package Neufchâtel cheese (reduced-fat cream cheese),
room temp
1 8-ounce package of regular cream cheese, room temp
(they call for 2 packages of Neufchâtel cheese, but i decided to Emeril-ize it by using one package of the real stuff. you're going to be constipated anyway, might as well do it right.)
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
3 large eggs
2 cups puréed bananas - from about 4 bananas
(oh! best way to do this - less steps, less mess. get your bananas 3 or 4 days in advance. Let them ripen significantly, til they're almost too soft, then freeze them. the day you're going to make the cake, let them defrost on a plate. when you're ready to add them to the batter, just peel off the skin and toss in the food processor. no need to puree them separately. they're kinda creepy in texture and shape that way, but it works beautifully.)
1 cup low-fat sour cream
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt

Topping
1 cup low-fat sour cream
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 jar of caramel sauce. [i used dulce de leche. you can get it at any specialty food shop or, if you live in astoria, as i do, you can get it at Western Beef Grocery Store (vegetarians be damned!) in their ethnic foods section. It's by Nestle La Lechera. get two cans. you can eat the other one later while blogging. the sweet butteriness of it pairs well with the tart coolness of a vodka gimlet.]
2 tablespoons dark rum
2 bananas, peeled, sliced

For Crust:
Position rack in center of oven and preheat oven to 350°F. Wrap outside of 9-inch diameter springform pan with 3-inch -high sides with heavy-duty foil. Combine flour, walnuts, butter, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla in the bowl of a food processor - process. Press mixture onto bottom only of prepared pan.

For Filling:
Using electric mixer (food processor pour moi), beat cream cheese in large bowl until smooth. Gradually beat in sugar. Beat in cornstarch. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until just blended after each addition. Add puréed banana, sour cream, lemon juice, vanilla, cinnamon and salt. Beat just until combined.

Transfer filling to crust-lined pan. (If you did all of this in a processor, DO NOT REMOVE THE BOWL FROM THE PROCESSOR. AT THIS POINT, THE FILLING EXCEEDS THE LITTLE TUNNEL STICKING UP FROM THE BASE. JUST LEAVE THE BOWL ON THE BASE, AND PICK THE WHOLE THANG UP AND TILT IT TO DUMP IT INTO THE MOLD. OTHERWISE, IT'LL SPILL ALL OVER YOUR KITCHEN FLOOR. YOUR CAT WILL BE HAPPY. YOU WILL NOT.)

now, make a bain marie. Place pan in large roasting pan. (i don't own a fancy-schmancy roasting pan, i just used an aluminum one from the 99 cent store.) Add enough hot water to roasting pan to come 1 inch up sides of springform pan. Bake until center of cake is just set, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Remove cake from oven. Maintain oven temperature.

Meanwhile, Prepare Topping:
Mix together sour cream, sugar and vanilla in small bowl until well blended.

Spread topping over cheesecake. Bake until topping is set, about 10 minutes. Turn off oven. Let cake stand in oven until cooled to room temperature, about 2 hours. (at this point, it was 1 am. i set my alarm for 3 am, got up, wrapped it, and tossed it into the fridge.) Refrigerate cake until well chilled. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Cut around cake to loosen; remove pan sides. Transfer cake to platter. Warm dulce de leche in small saucepan over low heat, stirring often. Mix in rum. Drizzle some sauce decoratively over cake. Arrange bananas top cake. (i then drizzled more dulce de leche over top of the bananas.)

Cut cake into wedges. Serve, passing remaining sauce separately.

Serves 10. (probably serves more than this. it's so rich, between the 4 of us, i still had 3/4 of the cake left over. take it to work - make friends, influence people.)

it was a big hit. even folks who don't like bananas liked this cheesecake. so rich, so creamy, there's no need for vanilla ice cream, and the pureed nanners in the cheesecake filling really add an unexpected sumthin-sumthin.

so enjoy, and don't forget to take a fiber pill.