I found a pretty good deal for Tahitian vanilla beans from Spun Sugar in Berkeley (5 for $10) and thought that it would be perfect in Rose’s cheesecake! I used half the bean in the cheesecake and the other half in the genoise base. I even threw in the scraped pods in the butter for the genoise while I was browning it. For both recipes, I still decided to use some vanilla extract but just halved the amount. The genoise was actually a failed one. It came out flat, dense, and rubbery, but it was so soft and moist after soaking up the cheesecake juices! Don’t throw out your failed genoise!
Anyway, I think my vanilla beans are a little mild. Next time, I’ll use the whole bean in the cheesecake and not split it up amongst the genoise. Maybe I might reduce the lemon juice in the cheesecake too. The tartness seemed to overwhelm the vanilla a bit. Here are the photos!
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.10150177315124767.323888.517859766&l=bc601c7030
I was also looking at some of the cheesecake variations, and the banana cheesecake sounds interesting. Has anyone thought about lining their cheesecake pans with banana leaves instead of parchment? It might be perfect for a banana cheesecake.
