Monday, May 5, 2014

Protein Cheesecake, Where Have You Been All My Life??????

So I was farting around on the interwebs last week, trying to find a new and fun recipe to try, when I stumbled upon a few protein cheesecake recipes on bodybuilding.com.   Protein cheesecake, you say?  How good can that taste?  I started to read the ingredients and my interest was definitely sparked.  It seemed pretty legit, but I was still skeptical.



I was skeptical, because, let's be honest here: protein baking usually tastes like shit, especially when people try to to fat free protein baking.  News flash: egg whites + protein powder = shit.  Honestly, I'd rather just have the real thing than be super depressed by something that feels and tastes like a friggin frisbee.  Additionally, most people truly have no concept of what a really good protein powder actually tastes like. Optimum Nutrition, come on.  That stuff is sawdust, so stop lying to yourself.

Enter the God of all protein powders, Xtreme Formulations Ultra Peptide 2.0.  If you've never had UP 2.0, please don't talk to me until you've tried it.  Here's what it looks like:

You can get it from my favorite online supp store, GetRippedNutrition (www.getrippednutrition.com).  Tell them Beth sent you when you checkout :)  Anyway, UP is the nectar of the Gods.  It's thick and creamy and wonderful.  I'm convinced it's made with rainbows and fairy dust.  It has a higher fat content than most other powders, which yields a much better mouth-feel (TWSS), especially when baking.  I use UP all the time, and I have almost every flavor sitting in my house right now.  Lemon cream pie is, HANDS DOWN, BY FAR, the best-tasting powder you will ever consume.  If you don't agree, I'll buy your tub from you.  I am not a lemon person, either, folks.  But it's the bomb.

So I decided to make a lemon protein cheesecake to see if I could actually produce a decent finished product.  Friends, I have to tell you, it is heaven.  Look, even Trotter is 'mirin.


The texture is pretty on point; when I make this again, I will probably be cooking it just slightly longer as I felt it was just a tad under-cooked.  But, really, who cares?  It's all going to end up in the same place anyway.

Ingredients:
12 oz 0% Greek Yogurt
12 oz fat free cream cheese
2 scoops protein powder
2 eggs
3/4 c splenda
1 t vanilla
1/4 t salt
2-3 T Jello sugar free/fat free pudding mix (optional)
1/4 c almond milk (optional if you use the jello)

Mix all ingredients together with a hand mixer for about 2-3 minutes.  Be careful not to mix too much, otherwise you'll end up with cracks all up in yo' cake.  Spray a 6 or 9" circular cake pan with cooking spray and line with parchment paper.  Spray your paper, too.  Bake at 325 for 30-35 mins and then drop the heat to 200 and bake for an additional 50-60 mins.  The internal temp should be about 165, or bake it until the outside is pretty done but the middle still jiggles a little when you wiggle the pan.

The macros are pretty awesome on this: about 130 cals/slice with over 20g of protein, < 11g carbs, and <5g fat.  Not too shabby :)