A newly made friend at the office inspired me to make my very first baked cheesecake. She's a true blooded Filipina and I admire her because she stayed true to herself even after so many years of living in Australia. She has such an outgoing personality and gets excited at the thought of trying out new restaurants. She's my kind of gal friend. She's a dessert lover too - anything with sweet or with chocolate really. I'm a believer that anyone who loves chocolate is a good person and is very likely to be a good friend.
Recently, she made a no-bake mango cheesecake and had me try a slice. She also makes a damn good red velvet muffin with cream cheese frosting. She made me fell in love with the moist crumb and rich and tangy frosting. No cupcake is complete without frosting.
Over the busy work week, the only thing I thought of was what to bake on the weekend and I AM DESPERATE to bake something - anything! Thinking back on the no bake cheesecake and then to my weekend in New York a couple of years back, I missed a really awesome eye-rolling luscious melt in your mouth New York cheesecake. So why not make it this weekend? It was the perfect stress reliever. And believe me, I'm the best baker after a very stressful week at work.
Of course, I had to turn to no other than my favorite Dorie Greenspan cookbook - Baking from My Home to Yours. And made her awesome cheesecake. I followed it practically to the letter and it came out perfectly. Maybe not as perfect as the one I had back in New York but it was damn close. Granted it was a bit labour intensive but it is so worth it. The best thing about it is that I won't have to go out to some swank restaurant to get a slice of cheesecake. It's right here in my fridge.
I made the lemon flavored version of it (without the lemon extract) and I love love love it. I just had half a slice with a cup of strong coffee (and God knows I love my coffee). It made my eyes roll from the luscious tangy cream cheese and sour cream, with a true scent of lemon from the juice and zest then a sweet, crunchy and buttery crust. You know what? It's true that nothing is better than a homemade cheesecake.
Ingredients:
For the crust:
1 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 cup melted butter
For the cheesecake:
4 250g packs of cream cheese (yes, it's 1 kg!) at room temp. (It is very very important for the cream cheese to be at room temp. If you skip this step, you'll regret it).
1 1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 eggs
1 1/3 cup sour cream at room temperature (you can use half heavy cream and half sour cream)
Lemon flavour:
zest of 2 lemons
juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp lemon extract (I did not use this)
Steps:
Prepare the pan: Butter a 9 inch springform pan. Do not preheat the oven yet. Wrap 2 layers of foil around the bottom.
Prepare the crust: In a bowl, combine the crumbs, sugar and salt. Pour in the melted butter. Press onto the pan. Place in the freezer. NOW, preheat the oven - 350F/175C.
Bake the crust: When the oven is ready, bake the crust for 10minutes. Set on a cooling rack to cool down.
Preheat the oven: Set your oven temp to 325F/160C.
Make the cheesecake batter: In a large bowl with a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese for 4 minutes until creamy (like very thick cream). The speed should be at medium. While the mixer is running on low, sprinkle in the sugar and salt. Beat for another 4 minutes. Next on low, beat in the vanilla. Crack in the eggs, one at a time, and beat for a full minute on each addition. Yes, another 4 minutes. You should have a very well aerated batter. The batter should be 2-3 times the size compared to when you started. Then on low, mix in the sour cream. There will be luscious streaks of white against the off-white. At this stage, your batter is ready and you can add the lemon flavour (if you choose to do this). Add the zest and juice and beat until just combined. Do not pour the batter into the pan YET.
Prepare to bake: Put your kettle to a boil. Prepare a roasting pan that will fit the springform pan with some space around. I used a shallow casserole pan because that's all I have. Place the EMPTY springform pan into the empty roasting pan. Pour the batter into the springform pan. The batter should reach the rim of the pan, if you have any leftover, set that aside and bake in ramekins. Now, pull out your oven rack halfway and place the roasting pan with the springform pan carefully onto it. Pour the hot water into the roasting pan until it's half way up with sides of the springform pan. Slide the rack back into the oven and bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Now, it is important that you do not open the oven door for the first hour.
Some observations: You'll notice that after the first hour, the cake will puff up to about 1/2 inch above the pan, do not be alarmed, it will sink down later. Also, the top will be browned and sometimes cracked, do not be alarmed, it is normal unless it smells like it is burning. If you set your oven to the right temp, there shouldn't be any problem.
After baking: After 1 hour and 30 minutes of baking, turn off your oven and crack the door open. Leave the cake in the oven with the door like that for another hour. After an hour, take the cake out and cool to room temp. Mine took about 2 hours to cool down on a rack.
Now refrigerate: Cover the top of the cake and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight. Overnight is better.
The Next Day: The next day, you are so ready to get into that cheesecake! After taking out the cake from the fridge, I used a hair dryer and warmed the sides of a pan just slightly. This will help release the cake from the pan easy.
Slice the cake: So slicing I think is the trickiest part out of all this. Here we go. For a picture perfect slice, boil some water and pour this into a tall pitcher, vase, glass or what have you. The important this is that it should be able to accommodate the length of the knife that you'll be using to slice the cake. Now, the knife. I think that a serrated knife is not necessary as long as the blade is thin and sharp. Dip the knife for a few seconds into the water. Wipe the knife then slice in one motion downward. Do not lift up the knife but slide it out from the bottom. Try to cut into the crust as much as you can. Wipe the knife, dip into the hot water again and repeat. If you notice that the knife did not go all the way into the crust, I used a thin metal spatula to "cut" through, with the tip at the base of the crust.
Recently, she made a no-bake mango cheesecake and had me try a slice. She also makes a damn good red velvet muffin with cream cheese frosting. She made me fell in love with the moist crumb and rich and tangy frosting. No cupcake is complete without frosting.Over the busy work week, the only thing I thought of was what to bake on the weekend and I AM DESPERATE to bake something - anything! Thinking back on the no bake cheesecake and then to my weekend in New York a couple of years back, I missed a really awesome eye-rolling luscious melt in your mouth New York cheesecake. So why not make it this weekend? It was the perfect stress reliever. And believe me, I'm the best baker after a very stressful week at work.
Of course, I had to turn to no other than my favorite Dorie Greenspan cookbook - Baking from My Home to Yours. And made her awesome cheesecake. I followed it practically to the letter and it came out perfectly. Maybe not as perfect as the one I had back in New York but it was damn close. Granted it was a bit labour intensive but it is so worth it. The best thing about it is that I won't have to go out to some swank restaurant to get a slice of cheesecake. It's right here in my fridge.
I made the lemon flavored version of it (without the lemon extract) and I love love love it. I just had half a slice with a cup of strong coffee (and God knows I love my coffee). It made my eyes roll from the luscious tangy cream cheese and sour cream, with a true scent of lemon from the juice and zest then a sweet, crunchy and buttery crust. You know what? It's true that nothing is better than a homemade cheesecake.
Ingredients:
For the crust:
1 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 cup melted butter
For the cheesecake:
4 250g packs of cream cheese (yes, it's 1 kg!) at room temp. (It is very very important for the cream cheese to be at room temp. If you skip this step, you'll regret it).
1 1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 eggs
1 1/3 cup sour cream at room temperature (you can use half heavy cream and half sour cream)
Lemon flavour:
zest of 2 lemons
juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp lemon extract (I did not use this)
Steps:
Prepare the pan: Butter a 9 inch springform pan. Do not preheat the oven yet. Wrap 2 layers of foil around the bottom.
Prepare the crust: In a bowl, combine the crumbs, sugar and salt. Pour in the melted butter. Press onto the pan. Place in the freezer. NOW, preheat the oven - 350F/175C.
Bake the crust: When the oven is ready, bake the crust for 10minutes. Set on a cooling rack to cool down.
Preheat the oven: Set your oven temp to 325F/160C.
Make the cheesecake batter: In a large bowl with a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese for 4 minutes until creamy (like very thick cream). The speed should be at medium. While the mixer is running on low, sprinkle in the sugar and salt. Beat for another 4 minutes. Next on low, beat in the vanilla. Crack in the eggs, one at a time, and beat for a full minute on each addition. Yes, another 4 minutes. You should have a very well aerated batter. The batter should be 2-3 times the size compared to when you started. Then on low, mix in the sour cream. There will be luscious streaks of white against the off-white. At this stage, your batter is ready and you can add the lemon flavour (if you choose to do this). Add the zest and juice and beat until just combined. Do not pour the batter into the pan YET.
Prepare to bake: Put your kettle to a boil. Prepare a roasting pan that will fit the springform pan with some space around. I used a shallow casserole pan because that's all I have. Place the EMPTY springform pan into the empty roasting pan. Pour the batter into the springform pan. The batter should reach the rim of the pan, if you have any leftover, set that aside and bake in ramekins. Now, pull out your oven rack halfway and place the roasting pan with the springform pan carefully onto it. Pour the hot water into the roasting pan until it's half way up with sides of the springform pan. Slide the rack back into the oven and bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Now, it is important that you do not open the oven door for the first hour.
Some observations: You'll notice that after the first hour, the cake will puff up to about 1/2 inch above the pan, do not be alarmed, it will sink down later. Also, the top will be browned and sometimes cracked, do not be alarmed, it is normal unless it smells like it is burning. If you set your oven to the right temp, there shouldn't be any problem.
After baking: After 1 hour and 30 minutes of baking, turn off your oven and crack the door open. Leave the cake in the oven with the door like that for another hour. After an hour, take the cake out and cool to room temp. Mine took about 2 hours to cool down on a rack.
Now refrigerate: Cover the top of the cake and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight. Overnight is better.
The Next Day: The next day, you are so ready to get into that cheesecake! After taking out the cake from the fridge, I used a hair dryer and warmed the sides of a pan just slightly. This will help release the cake from the pan easy.
Slice the cake: So slicing I think is the trickiest part out of all this. Here we go. For a picture perfect slice, boil some water and pour this into a tall pitcher, vase, glass or what have you. The important this is that it should be able to accommodate the length of the knife that you'll be using to slice the cake. Now, the knife. I think that a serrated knife is not necessary as long as the blade is thin and sharp. Dip the knife for a few seconds into the water. Wipe the knife then slice in one motion downward. Do not lift up the knife but slide it out from the bottom. Try to cut into the crust as much as you can. Wipe the knife, dip into the hot water again and repeat. If you notice that the knife did not go all the way into the crust, I used a thin metal spatula to "cut" through, with the tip at the base of the crust.
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