Red Velvet Cheesecake

I decided to be daring this year... For Christmas Eve, I was asked to bring a dessert. I generally don't like to bring a dessert because I have trouble coming up with an idea. I don't bake often and I consider myself to be a good baker. I don't think I've had many kitchen disasters involving desserts that I can think of. Maybe if you count the time I was 13 and in Home Ec we forgot the extra cup of flour in the chocolate chip cookies and they came out shiny and tasting horribly of butter. And when my oven was one big hot spot and burned all but one section of my orange cake I was bringing to Easter. Then I had to start over and rotate the cake in the oven every 15 minutes. And we all remember the expired yeast episode. So when I decided to make my first cheesecake ever and a fairly "different" one at that, I was a little concerned with the outcome. I had an assistant in the kitchen, which I think was very helpful for the whole dessert. (He was also a very useful photographer.) According to the guests at my parents' house this was pretty good. I think the key to liking this cake is you have to like red velvet and cheesecake. Personally I thought the cake was gorgeous but average taste. I think it has real wow power visually though and worth making for that reason. The original recipe called for a cream cheese frosting. I thought that sounded too rich and made a simple whipped cream with a little vanilla and sugar.

Red Velvet Cheesecake (adapted from The Recipe Girl)

Crust:
17 Oreos, finely crushed
1/4 cup melted butter
1 Tbsp sugar

Cheesecake:
3 8oz. packs cream cheese
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
3 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp white vinegar
2 1 oz. bottles red food coloring

1. Combine crumbs, butter and sugar. Press into 9" springform pan.
2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Prepare water bath: Fill roasting pan with 1 inch water. Heat in oven while oven is pregheating.
3. Beat cream cheese and sugar 1 minute. Add remaining ingredients and mix at a low speed until combined and pour into crust.
4. Layer 2 sheets of foil wrap bottom of pan gently. Place pan into water bath.
5. Bake 10 minutes and reduce heat to 300 degrees F. Bake 75 minutes or until center is firm.
6. Turn off oven and let stand 30 minutes. Remove from oven and water bath and place on a wire rack to cool.
   
7. Run a thin knife around edge of cheesecake and cook several hours until room temperature.
   
8. Cover and chill 8 hours.
9. Remove sides of spring form pan.

I spread homemade whipped cream on the top and garnished with mint leaves and store bought red icing.