Take a Cheesecake and a Carrot cake and smash them together at high speed? No, that can't be right....

January 22, 2010 12:45 PM

Please help me duplicate The Cheesecake Factory's "Craig's Crazy Carrot Cake Cheesecake" at home.

My mom once had a desert called Craig's Crazy Carrot Cake Cheesecake at The Cheesecake Factory restaurant in Chicago. She loved it more than any desert ever, and has been trying to get another one ever since. I've tried various means of getting one, but The Cheesecake Factory apparently only sells them in their restaurants, and won't deliver them like they will with their other cheesecakes (I've called and begged, but to no avail). The closest Cheesecake Factory restaurant to where we live is a 5 hour drive 1-way, and certainly not worth it.

So, having given up on that avenue, I thought perhaps I could learn to make something very similar to this by myself and give it to my mom as a gift. I'm looking for a cheesecake/carrotcake blended recipe that would yield something similar to what the Cheesecake Factory restaurants sell, and is equally delicious.

I don't really know where to start. I have never had this cheesecake, and have only the brief description on the linked page above, and my mother's hyperbolic account of it as a starting point. There isn't even a picture! My understanding is that this is not a cake that has cheesecake and carrot cake in separate and distinct layers, but instead has the two cake types blended or marbled together somehow. Has anyone ever had this cheesecake and learned to make something like it? Please let me know your secret recipe. Thanks!

posted by Vorteks to Food & Drink (8 answers total)

Here is a photo of it. Maybe you can get a friend or family member who lives in a city with a Cheesecake factory to pick one up for you and ship.
posted by travis08 at 12:54 PM on January 22, 2010

Here's a page with a photo of Craig's Crazy Carrot Cake Cheesecake.
posted by urbanlenny at 12:55 PM on January 22, 2010

And a recipe for carrot cake cheesecake, with some comments comparing it to the cheesecake factory's version at the very bottom of the page.
posted by urbanlenny at 12:58 PM on January 22, 2010 [1 favorite]

This claims to be it and sounds like what those pictures look like.
posted by otherwordlyglow at 1:00 PM on January 22, 2010

And another one that doesn't make any claims as to the Cheesecake Factory but sounds like it would work. Basically it's the two types of cakes swirled together. You spoon the cheesecake batter over the carrot cake and vice versa. The first one I linked had a pineapple frosting that sounded interesting but I'm not sure if that's authentic to the orignal.
posted by otherwordlyglow at 1:03 PM on January 22, 2010

I think that, even if you had the real recipe, making this cheesecake would entail a lot of trial and error. I'd start with some of the recipes listed here, and then trial-and-error until you get a close-enough recipe. (Close-enough not meaning less tasty -- home made cheesecake is invariably yummier than even what you get from cheesecake conglomerates.)
posted by jabberjaw at 2:06 PM on January 22, 2010

Best answer: otherwordlyglow: "This claims to be it and sounds like what those pictures look like."

I have followed this recipe, and it is almost exactly like the CCF version.
posted by dejah420 at 2:48 PM on January 22, 2010 [2 favorites]

otherworldyglow: This claims to be it and sounds like what those pictures look like.

I made that one today and it turned out great. Variations: Rum soaked the coconut flakes, didn't add the pineapple at all, used butter instead of oil for the carrot cake part, and made the icing out of a simple equal-parts cream cheese and butter with "enough" powdered sugar.

I have no idea if it's anything like the one Cheesecake Factory sells, but it's good!
posted by ydant at 5:48 PM on January 23, 2010