Classic Cheesecake

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

For the last ten years or so I think I've been using variations on the same tried and true New York cheesecake recipe from Rose Levy Barenbaum. It's a fabulous recipe, rich, creamy, tangy, sophisticated... But this month challenge used a slightly different recipe and to stay true to the Daring Bakers challenge I gave it a shot. There are some distinct differences, namely proportions and the use of heavy cream instead of sour cream. Heavy cream gave this cheesecake a slightly less assertive tang but it was still quite good. Fewer eggs made the cake a bit more creamy than I usually like. Also, I think I should have baked mine perhaps ten minutes longer as I like mine just a little more firm. I varied the recipe by using chocolate chip cookies to make the crust (that's all I could find in my pantry) and I used chocolate hazelnut liquer in the batter although I think I would use a more assertive flavoring such as ameretto next time.

I used Barenbaums wonderful White Chocolate Cream Cheese Buttercream to frost this cake (recipe follows). This buttercream is absolutely perfect for carrot cake or for dressing up a cheesecake. As for the decorating itself I must give Lydia some "credit" for her contribution to the design. Namely, how do you decorate a cake when a four year old insists on being the one to hold the piping bag? But, I must admit it came out more whimsical that it would have had I been on my own - thanks Lydia!

Enjoy!

Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake:

crust:
2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs
1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted
2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

cheesecake:
3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature
1 cup / 210 g sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)
1 tbsp liqueur, optional, but choose what will work well with your cheesecake

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.

2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too - baker's choice. Set crust aside.

3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.

4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.

5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.

Pan note: The creator of this recipe used to use a springform pan, but no matter how well she wrapped the thing in tin foil, water would always seep in and make the crust soggy. Now she uses one of those 1-use foil "casserole" shaped pans from the grocery store. They're 8 or 9 inches wide and really deep, and best of all, water-tight. When it comes time to serve, just cut the foil away.

Prep notes: While the actual making of this cheesecake is a minimal time commitment, it does need to bake for almost an hour, cool in the oven for an hour, and chill overnight before it is served. Please plan accordingly!

Some variations from the recipe creator:

** Lavender-scented cheesecake w/ blueberries - heat the cup of heavy cream in the microwave or a saucepan until hot but not boiling. Add 2 tbsp of lavender flowers and stir. Let lavender steep in the cream for about 10-15 minutes, then strain the flowers out. Add strained cream to cheesecake batter as normal. Top with fresh blueberries, or make a quick stovetop blueberry sauce (splash of orange juice, blueberries, a little bit of sugar, and a dash of cinnamon - cook until berries burst, then cool)

** Cafe au lait cheesecake with caramel - take 1/4 cup of the heavy cream and heat it in the microwave for a short amount of time until very hot. Add 1-2 tbsp. instant espresso or instant coffee; stir to dissolve. Add this to the remainder of cream and use as normal. Top cheesecake with homemade caramel sauce (I usually find one on the food network website - just make sure it has heavy cream in it. You can use store-bought in a pinch, but the flavor is just not the same since its usually just sugar and corn syrup with no dairy).

** Tropical – add about a half cup of chopped macadamias to the crust, then top the cake with a mango-raspberry-mandarin orange puree.

** Mexican Turtle - add a bar of melted dark chocolate (between 3 and 5 oz., to taste) to the batter, along with a teaspoon of cinnamon and a dash of cayenne pepper (about 1/8 tsp.). Top it with pecan halves and a homemade caramel sauce.

** Honey-cinnamon with port-pomegranate poached pears – replace 1/2 cup of the sugar with 1/2 cup of honey, add about a teaspoon or more (to taste) of cinnamon. Take 2 pears (any variety you like or whatever is in season), peeled and cored, and poach them in a boiling poaching liquid of port wine, pomegranate juice/seeds, a couple of "coins" of fresh ginger, a cinnamon stick, and about a 1/4 cup of sugar. Poach them until tender, then let cool. Strain the poaching liquid and simmer until reduced to a syrupy-glaze consistency, then cool. Thinly slice the cooled pears and fan them out atop the cooled cheesecake. Pour the cooled poaching syrup over the pears, then sprinkle the top with chopped walnuts and fresh pomegranate seeds.

Some variations from Jenny (from JennyBakes):

**Key lime - add zest from one lime to sugar before mixing with cream cheese. Substitute lemon juice, alcohol, and vanilla with key lime juice.

**Cheesecakelets - put in muffin tins, ramekins, or custard cups. Try baking 20-35 minutes, or until still a little jiggly, and cool as before.

ETA: I have this in a Google doc, so you can

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Buttercream

9 ounces white chocolate (it has to be real white chocolate), melted and cooled

12 ounces cream cheese

6 ounces unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 Tablespoons lemon juice

Cream the cream cheese and add the white chocolate. Add the butter and lemon juice. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to bring the buttercream to a more manageable consistency. If it has firmed too much bring back to room temperature before using.

Comments

[Kathlyn]

Your cake is beautiful! Well done to both you and Lydia - I love the decorations.

I have The Cake Bible, and I'll have to try the cheesecake recipe there. I have to admit, this one was really easy and not too sweet, but I didn't flavor mine aggressively enough. Maybe the leftover cakes just need a bit of white chocolate cream cheese frosting. :)

[JennyBakes]

Interesting, I've never had a cheesecake decorated this way before. I need to buy the Cake Bible because I've used a few of her recipes and they are classic. Thanks for being a part of the April Daring Bakers Challenge!

Jenny of JennyBakes