Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake from Jean Colby. Holiday Dessert bake-off Christmas Special recipe. Recipe from Have Your Cake and Eat it, Too Makes 14 servings

Ingredients 

Filling

2 cups low-fat vanilla yogurt

1 ½ cups (12 ounces) low-fat cream cheese, at room temperature

1 large egg, separated and 1 large egg white

1 cup granulated sugar, divided

¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons unsifted all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon salt

Crust

Butter-flavor no stick cooking spray

3 tablespoons Grape-Nuts

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

Raspberry topping and sauce

1 12-ounce jar best-quality seedless, raspberry jam

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon Framboise or Chambord

1 cup fresh or frozen whole raspberries

Method 

Place a fine-mesh sieve over a bowl. Put the yogurt in the sieve and allow it to drain for about 30 minutes to remove excess liquid.

Coat the spring form pan with cooking spray. If using an aluminum pan, line the bottom with baking parchment or wax paper and spray. To make the crust, combine

the Grape-Nuts, walnuts and sugar in a food processor and blend until fine crumbs. 

Add the crumbs to the prepared pan, and tilt and rotate pan until evenly dusted with crumbs. To prepare the topping, place the jam in a small saucepan and set it over

medium-low heat. 

Stir for 3 to 4 minutes, until completely smooth and warm to the touch; do not boil. The jam should generously coat the back of a spoon and form ribbons as it drops from the spoon’s edge. 

Remove 7 tablespoons of jam to a cup and set aside the use for marbleizing the cake.

To complete the sauce, stir the lemon juice, raspberry liquer and raspberries into the remaining jam. Set aside. (If the sauce thickens too much after standing, stir over very low heat just before serving.)

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat it to 300 F. In a large bowl, combine the cream cheese, egg yolk, vanilla and ¾ cup of the sugar. With an electric mixer on medium speed, beat well to blend. 

Beat in the drained yogurt. Set a fine-mesh sieve over the bowl and add the flour and salt. Stir and sift onto the cheese mixture. With the mixer on low, beat until very smooth.

In a clean, grease-free bowl, using clean beaters, whip the egg whites until foamy. 

Gradually add the remaining ¼ cup sugar and whip until the whites are stiff but not dry. Fold the whites into the cheese batter in three additions.

Pour half the batter into the prepared pan. Using ¼ cup of the reserved jam, make a pattern of stripes across the batter in the pan. Gently spoon on the remaining batter, covering the sauce. Using a spatula, smooth the top.

To marbelize the cake top, spoon lines of the remaining reserved jam across the cake top. Draw long swirls with the tip of a knife, pulling through the jam to create an allover marbleized pattern of red and white lines.

Bake for about 1 hour at 300. The top of the cake should be set but neither darkened nor browned in color; the center will be somewhat soft. The cake will rise slightly and some cracks may appear; they will close up when the cake cools.

Turn off the oven and prop open the oven door slightly, leaving the cake inside to cool slowly for 1 hour. Remove the cake from the oven and place it on a wire rack away from drafts. 

Run a long, thin knife blade between the cake and the pan sides to release some steam. 

Then place a piece of cardboard on top and allow it to cool completely. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight, to firm and mellow. To unmold the cake, run the blade of a long knife between the top edge of the cake and the pan. 

Loosen the spring and carefully lift off the pan sides, leaving the cake on the pan bottom.