One of my favourite desserts has always been cheesecake. Sweet, tangy, creamy. What’s not to like? But in my family (and I suspect most Aussie families), the cheesecake of choice (other than the ubiquitous frozen Sara Lee variety) to make at home is cold-set. Quicker to make plus no oven equals a cooler kitchen in summer which is when we tended to have them. Baked cheesecake to me has always been a bit hit and miss. Too easy for it to be dry and heavy rather than light like the cold-set versions.
But then I went to New York and had several pieces of divine New York style baked cheesecake (including the class Junior’s) and decided one day I should attempt to make some. Which led to me putting it on my foodie challenge list earlier this year. Yesterday was my crit group meeting and it was my turn to bring dessert so I decided to give it a go. I’d pinned a couple of cheesecake recipes on my pinterest food board which all sound delicious but I decided to go with a classic Martha Stewart one (as I figured it would be well tested).
I did hack the crust as one of my crit group peeps has a wheat intolerance and I wanted an alternative crust. After cruising la internets for a while, I decided to go with a make-it-up-myself nut crust. Which translated as hazelnut meal, blanched almonds and a few salted cashews. I whizzed up the almonds and cashews in my food processor until they were breadcrumbish (same as you would for cookies/biscuits in a cookier/biscuit crust) and ended up with about a cup in total. I mixed that with about 1/3 cup not firmly packed brown sugar and 80 grams or so of melted butter. I pre-baked it for about 10mins at 375 then let it cool. I suspect you could also cold set it but the nuts went a nice toasty gold in the oven (watch nuts, they go from toasted right to BURNED in an eyeblink and no one wants burned nuts (minds out of the gutter, people!).
After that it was follow the recipe all the way. No, wait, I lie, I used half low fat cream cheese and half regular as a sop towards dietary responsibility : )
Ready to cook
My oven is fan forced so I lowered the temp a little but it still only took about an hour and twenty minutes to be just set in the middle (and getting a little too coloured on top…one rack lower next time!) rather than the 1 3/4 hours suggested in the recipe, so it’s a case of watch and know thy oven I guess.
This is what it looked like straight out of the oven:
All cooked
As I said, slight too gold on top but not quite as gold as it actually looks here (late night cell photo, sorry).
I let it cool in the oven out of the water bath for 20 mins with the door open a bit (based on a tip from my sil) and then let it cool a bit longer out of the oven before popping it in the fridge to chill overnight. Technically you’re meant to let it cool most of the way before putting it in the fridge but it was getting late at this stage (note to self, need to bake cheesecakes in the afternoon, not at night). There was a bit of condensation on the plastic wrap in the morning but it didn’t seem to be harmed really. I just changed the wrap.
I headed off to crit group a little nervously (as one is with new recipes) but it came out of the tin nicely.
Ready to slice
And it looked pretty tasty with a bit of passionfruit and cream…
Ready to eat
That’s the first slice where the crust crumbled a little. It stayed whole for the others. And I’m happy to report that everyone declared it yummy (including me). It would be fine without anything on the side but is a classic enough lightly lemony cheesecake that you could serve it with almost any toppings. You could also add spices to the crust (ground ginger or cinnamon) depending on what flavour cheesecake you were making.
I’m currently experimenting with how it freezes as I didn’t want to have half a cheesecake sitting in my fridge, so I sliced it up, wrapped each slice in gladwrap and foil per Mr. Google’s suggestions and popped them in the freezer. I’ll try a piece tonight to see how it defrosts.
So there you go, part one of the cooking challenge is a success!
This is a great recipe too.
Thin Sponge Cake Layer (see recipe below)
For Cream Cheese Filling:
4 (8-ounce) packages regular cream cheese, at room temperature
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 extra-large eggs
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°F) and generously butter a 9-inch springform pan. Make the batter for the sponge cake as the recipe directs. Evenly spread the batter on the bottom of the pan and bake just until set and golden, about 10 minutes. Place the cake on a wire rack to cool (don’t remove it from the pan).
While the Cake Cools, Make the Cream Cheese Filling: Place one 8-ounce package of the cream cheese, 1/3 cup of the sugar, and the cornstarch in a large bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed until creamy, about 3 minutes. Then beat in the remaining 3 packages of cream cheese.
Increase the mixer speed to high and beat in the remaining 1 1/3 cups of the sugar, then beat in the vanilla. Blend in the eggs, one at a time, beating the batter well after adding each one. Blend in the heavy cream. At this point mix the filling only until completely blended (just like they do at Junior’s). Be careful not to over mix the batter.
Gently spoon the cheese filling on top of the baked sponge cake layer. Place the springform pan in a large shallow pan containing hot water that comes about 1-inch up the sides of the pan. Bake the cheesecake until the center barely jiggles when you shake the pan, about 1 hour.
Cool the cake on a wire rack for 1 hour. Then cover the cake with plastic wrap and refrigerate until it’s completely cold, at least 4 hours or overnight. Remove the sides of the springform pan. Slide the cake off the bottom of the pan onto a serving plate. Or if you wish, simply leave the cake on the removable bottom of the pan and place it on a serving plate. If any cake is left over, cover it with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator.
Thin Sponge Cake Layer for Cheesecake: One suggestion: keep an eye on this cake while it bakes. There’s not much batter, so it needs only about 10 minutes of baking — only enough time for the cake to turn light golden and set on the top.
1/2 cup cake flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
3 extra-large eggs, separated
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 drops pure lemon extract
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°F) and generously butter a 9-inch springform pan. Sift the cake flour, baking powder and salt together in a medium-sized bowl and set aside.
Beat the egg yolks together in a large bowl with an electric mixer on high speed for 3 minutes. Then, with the mixer still running, gradually add the 1/3 cup of the sugar and continue beating until thick light-yellow ribbons form in the bowl, about 5 minutes more. Beat in the vanilla and lemon extracts.
Sift the flour mixture over the batter and stir it in by hand until no more white flecks appear. Then blend in the butter.
In a clean bowl, using clean dry beaters, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar together on high speed until frothy. Gradually add the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form (the whites should stand up in stiff peaks but not be dry). Stir about 1/3 cup of the whites into the batter, then gently fold in the remaining whites — don’t worry if a few white specks remain.
Gently spoon the batter into the pan. Bake the cake just until the center of the cake springs back when lightly touched, only about 10 minutes (watch carefully). Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack while you continue making the cheesecake filling. Do not remove the cake from the pan.
Makes 12 to 16 servings.
Sounds delish too!
Looks delicious! Aaah, cheesecake. I miss cheesecake.
When it was a permissible food, I used to do a baked version too (slight lemon tang to it). The trick for mine was to let it cool in the oven with door open (like you would a pavlova).
I have only ever had the cold set version like you mentioned. This looks delicious.
Ooooh, your cheesecake looks absolutely delish! Although, even though I’m not Aussie, I still have a preference for cold-set cheesecake. Before I really got into making my own desserts, those Sara Lee desserts were divine.
“No one wants burned nuts” :snickers into tea: