21st Birthday Calls for Cheesecake!

My roommate Lauren turned 21 the other day, and to college kids, that's a BIG DEAL. Finally you can go to bars (jealous)!! A yummy cheesecake was in order, as were a bunch of other treats! Being an awesome friend, and great person in general, she deserved every bit of it!

Her mom had a cake made for her and added the "drunken barbie" which was absolutely hilarious! 

Our friend Sam jeweled a bottle of Stoli for her, so creative and pretty! 

(We have pinterest to thank for these awesome ideas! Coolest site ever!)

And I made her a card along with a cheesecake! 

It's safe to say she's got enough booze to last her a lonnnnggg time!

This cheesecake recipe is very exact, and has been perfected by my mother's friend. It comes out perfect every time and is absolutely delicious. I will never use another cheesecake recipe! 

Usually I would homemake a crust but I had so much going on and so much to do I kind of cheated and bought one, but the store bought ones are good, too!

Traditional Cheesecake

Crust-

1 1/2 cups crushed graham crackers

1/4 cup sugar

3/4 stick butter, melted

Cheesecake-

2 8oz packages cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla

Topping-

1 16oz tub sour cream

1/3 cup sugar

Directions:

Crush graham crackers with a rolling pin in a plastic bag or food processor. Add sugar and melted butter. Press into a spring form pan. Using an electric mixer, whip softened cream cheese until smooth. Add in eggs, sugar and vanilla. Continue whipping until smooth. Pour filling onto crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Take cheese cake out of oven (KEEP OVEN ON) and let cool for 15 minutes. Mix pint of sour cream with 1/3 cup of sugar. After 15 minutes cooling time, pour and spread sour cream mixture over cheese cake. Put cake back into oven and SHUT OVEN OFF. Leave in the oven for 25 minutes. Cool and chill! 

Follow this exactly and it comes out perfect every time!!

I topped mine with some melted chocolate, mix with heavy cream and pour into a plastic bag. Cut the tip and squeeze in any designed on top of cheesecake. It looks pretty and tastes even better!