Pirate cheesecake

Hello Internets! How are you doing this evening? I've done a lot of baking this weekend...I guess in anticipation for a week full of not baking or cooking a lot given that I have to pack things up to finally move into the city of Portland from Vancouver, WA.  YAAAY!

Last week my mom emailed me some awesome ideas for cheesecakes and she tried one out herself and it came out great.  Links are below:

• http://cookingwithcarrie.blogspot.com/2008/11/tye-dye-fashion-pie.html
• http://www.omnomicon.com/rainbowcake
• http://www.notquitenigella.com/2010/04/27/zebra-cheesecake/
• http://www.slashfood.com/2006/03/13/tie-dyed-red-velvet-cheesecake-recipe/

Also....my birthday was on Friday.  Yes, happy birthday to me. =P  Well today I had a pirate themed BBQ/party to celebrate (pirate themed because today is Talk Like a Pirate Day!)  I thought what would be better than a stripey pirate cheesecake to celebrate with! ...so I attempted to make one similar to the zebra cheesecake above.  I think it came out looking pretty good.  The recipe I used was:

• http://smittenkitchen.com/2010/04/new-york-cheesecake/ - I've never made a New York style cheesecake before but this came out pretty tastey, there were definitely improvements I could have made though such as cooking it a tad bit longer.  It wasn't perfect in the center.  Also I used a 10" pan because I only have 8", 9", and 10" pans...no 9 1/2"...next time I will try the 9" to get it higher

 

I also made red bell pepper hummus.  Yum.

...and at this very moment I just finished making my 2nd cheesecake (3-layer lemon cheesecake this time) of the weekend for a friend who did me a small favor a while back.  Gotta love bartering.