Thursday, November 5, 2009

New York Cheesecake. A first love.

What can I say, I love baked new york cheesecake! It was surprisingly my first genuine success. I mean a cheesecake doesn't require anyone to be of experience to master the dish when it comes to taste. Of course, the cracks do get annoying, but the taste will always stay true to its flavour.

Basically a cheesecake, is mainly made out of a large amount of cream cheese and sugar, with a a biscuit or sponge layer as the base. yes, there are other ingredients, but most of the taste of the cake comes from these 3 main ingredients. The cheesy sour taste from the cheese, the sweetness from the sugar and a biscuit or sponge taste to round it off.
Baking a new york cheesecake is very easy actually. And as it is also very versatile, you can add anything to it! Oreos, raspberries, blueberries, chocolate etc...( I top my cheesecake with strawberries and mix my base with ordinary digestives together with oreos, but it looked like organic fertilizer though, not something you should try)


The only thing that requires a bit more skill is the presentation. A beautiful cheesecake completely smooth and free of cracks, with that golden colour on top and edges of crisp brown.



I tell you, its like perfection.



A few ways to achieve these are.
Don't over beat. (I know when you get the feeling its not enough? Yes, I struggle with that too, but seriously you can to control yourself)

After its been beating at high speed for the required time, proceed by hand.

Never check the oven. Once you put it in, leave it in till you want to take it out. Its fine.

After its done, let it stay in the oven for 2 hours or so before taking it out.
Run a hot knife through the edge of the cake. The circumference!
Then cool it at room temp with a towel over it till its base isn't hot anymore.
Chill it for another couple of hours in the refrigerator and its ready to eat!

I actually made this recipe myself after a lot of different testing. Try it if you like.You can substitute sour cream with whipping cream too, I tried it and it still produce good results.
Ingredients
8 biscuits, crushed
30g butter

500 g cream cheese
150 g white sugar
100 ml milk
2 eggs
115 g sour cream
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
15 g all-purpose flour

Directions

-Preheat oven to 175 C. Grease a 9 inch springform pan.
-In a medium bowl, biscuits crumbs with melted butter. You can melt the butter in the microwave. Press onto bottom of the pan. Make sure you mix the butter well.
-In a large bowl, beat at high speed the cream cheese with sugar until smooth. Blend in milk, and then mix in the eggs one at a time, mixing just enough to incorporate.
-Mix in sour cream, vanilla and flour until smooth.
-Pour filling into prepared crust.
-Bake in preheated oven for 50 mins to 1 hour. follow tips above.


Ingredients are expensive, so do be careful, but its easy...so I really think you should give it a try. At least once. Extremely worth the money. Enjoy! =)

The old fashion way..Just stick to ONE colour.

Ingredients.

I don't have any tray large enough to partially submerge the pan with water. So I used 2 separate ones to as replacements to increase the humidity of the oven. (this prevents cracking so that the cheesecake's surface becomes moist)Simply delicious.

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