Vanilla Cheesecake with Stout Caramel

Note the assembled cheesecake is best if refrigerated for at least 3 hours. This time is not included in the above prep time.

For the crust:
Preheat oven to 350 F. Combine sugar, graham cracker crumbs and melted butter in a bowl. Press mixture into the bottom of a 9-inch spring form pan and bake at 350 F for 15-20 minutes or until fragrant. Remove from oven. Let it cool. Lower the oven temperature to 300 F.

For the filling:
Put cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed for five minutes. Lower speed to lowest setting and add eggs, one at a time, waiting to add the next until the last is fully incorporated. Add the vanilla and combine.

Keeping mixer on lowest possible setting, mix for 30 minutes, stopping 2 or 3 times to scrape the sides of the bowl (unless you have a paddle attachment with a scraper). Pour mixture into the pre-baked shell and bake at 300 F for 60-90 minutes. Start checking every 5 minutes at 60 minutes.

You want the cheesecake to be raised on the sides, sunk in the middle, but almost set all the way through. When you shake the pan, it should not be very jiggly in the middle, but you don’t want to wait for the middle to puff up too. Remove from oven once done. Let it cool for 20 minutes.

For the sour cream layer:
Combine sour cream, sugar and vanilla in a bowl. Pour sour cream mixture over cheesecake and bake at 300 F for 10 more minutes. Remove from oven. Let it cool for at least an hour before adding caramel topping.

For the caramel layer:
Add stout into a small saucepan over medium heat and simmer until it is reduced by half. You should have ¼ cup of very strong tasting stout at the end. Remove from heat.

Add brown sugar, butter, heavy cream, reduced stout, salt, and vanilla into a medium saucepan over medium heat and stir occasionally until mixture boils for a few minutes and reaches about 175 F. Remove from heat and whisk in powdered sugar. You can add more or less depending on the consistency you want.

Pour caramel over the top of the sour cream layer. Chill for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight.