You're Just A Wooden Skewer Away From Creating Tie-Dye Cheesecake

While it's become a popular trend to make cakes as extravagant as possible, the opposite is true of cheesecakes. Instead, they are often plain white and brown crust — a traditional, but snooze-worthy, look. Maybe you'll find a cheesecake with heaps of fruit or icing thrown on, but more often than not, those haphazard decorations are just a cover-up for a cracked top. 

And yet cheesecake is a versatile dessert with so many flavor possibilities, from classic New York-style or pumpkin to more adventurous versions like a La Viña Basque-style cheesecake or sopapilla cheesecake. But as much as you can mix and match the flavors and ingredients, cheesecakes aren't nearly as famous for delightful decorations as their regular-cake counterparts. Enter the tie-dye cheesecake. You could have the bold, colorful rainbow tie-dye cheesecake of your dreams, with the same iconic flavors of a classic recipe. And the real beauty of it? You just need a wooden skewer, a large spoon, some food dye, and a few extra bowls.

Creamy, colorful, and decadently pretty, tie-dye cheesecake is a wonderful way to add some pizzazz to your dessert table, and it's surprisingly easy. Unlike the actual tie-dying process, you won't need intricate knots to create a signature pattern. Just fill your springform pan with a mix of dyed batter, and run a wooden skewer or dowel rod through the colors. It's a piece of (cheese) cake!

What's more fun and summery than sugary snacks and tie-dye prints? Something that combines both, of course! For this technique, you can use a standard cheesecake recipe — or add extra hints of complementary extracts for a boost of flavorful fun. After parbaking the crust and combining the ingredients for the batter, divide said batter into separate bowls based on how many colors you want for the tie-dye pattern. Add plenty of food coloring to each bowl for the most vibrant result, and blend it lightly to avoid over-mixing your cheesecake. 

Next, use an ice cream scoop or a large spoon to dollop alternating colors of batter over your crust until the colors are evenly distributed and the pan is full, with just a bit of wiggle room for your cheesecake to puff up. Time for the simple wooden skewer to become a tool of culinary artistry. Just take the skewer and gently swirl the blobs of colored batter together, making sure to reach the bottom of the pan without gouging the crust. Try a large swirl from the center of the cheesecake to the edge for a spiral pattern; small, circular swirls all over for an intricate pattern; or squiggly lines moving from the center outward for a starburst pattern. Then, bake your cheesecake in a water bath for the smoothest finish. A tie-dye cheesecake is the perfect, fun way to keep all of your celebrations groovy!