Baked Cheesecake

[Cheffie]

Baked Cheesecake

Ingredients:Cheesecake mixture:
1kg Cream cheese
400g Castor sugar
6 Whole eggs
2 Egg yolks
200ml Double cream
200ml Lemon juice
75g Flour
5ml Vanilla pod (scraped)

For the biscuit base:
450g Digestive biscuits – crushed
100g Castor sugar
30ml Brandy
125g Butter

Method:Mix all wet ingredients. Add the flour. Mix well and reserve to one side.

For the base
Blitz the digestives with brandy sugar and butter. Leave to set in the fridge for 1 hour.
Line the baking dish with the crumble. Bake @190c for 20minutes. Remove and reserve to one side, allow cooling.

Pour the cream cheese mixture in and bake in a pre-heated oven (170c) for 45-50min.
Serve with a berry coulis or reduction of fruits and perhaps a little sorbet.

[nataliiie]

Is it best to bake a cheese cake in a water bath?

If so, how can one get the water bath to keep sufficient water in for the duration of cooking, without opening oven to refill (and obviously not filling it too full so that it spills over into the cheesecake)?

If no water bath, how can I prevent my cheesecake from cracking?

[Cheffie]

The recipe used does not need a water bath - the cracking won't appear if you follow the recipe and the temperature, times etc strictly.

However if you'e looking to 'moisten' during the cooking process, without a 'bath' in the oven, simply place a saucepan of water in the oven with it. No need for it to be 'poached' in the 'bath'.

[nataliiie]

Thanks for the advice, Cheffie. I'll give this a go.

[Cheffie]

Pleasure Natalie

When you cool the cheesecake down, make sure it is done slowly and regulated.

[nataliiie]

Pleasure Natalie

When you cool the cheesecake down, make sure it is done slowly and regulated.

How would you do this, Cheffie? Would turning off the oven and leaving the cheesecake in it while it cools down suffice? And then later placing in refridgerator?

[Cheffie]

Hi Natalie

Pretty much as you have described. It shouldn't take more than half an hour (oven door open, etc).
Ideally you would blast-chill it.. However the exhorbitant cost for domestic use would not make financial sense.
Commercially speaking it becomes somewhat different.

Have you tried the recipe yet?

[nataliiie]

I made the cheese cake this last weekend, and it went down a treat with all -family and guests alike. It certainly is a lot richer, more moist, and heavier (this could be due to the richness) than the one I usually bake.

Things I will do differently next time:
I made the biscuit base a lot thinner than was nice. It should have been a lot thicker.
I set the timer and forgot to turn it on. It took some mental gymnastics to work out how long the cheesecake had been in the oven, and how much longer it required.
I left the cheesecake in the oven to cool down and forgot about it. A couple of hours later when I came to bake the lemon meringue pie, I had turned on the oven again and the cooling cheesecake had another blast of heat. Uurrgh!!

Questions:
Will the cheesecake taste as nice if I leave out the lemon juice, or is this ingredient delicately balanced alongside the other ingredients to give the necessary moisture, tartness vs sweetness, etc?
I don't like making cheesecake fussy with extras (coulis, fruit, etc), however, these go along way to disguising the brown skin covering the outside. Does this brown outer layer matter in presentation?

Cheffie, this is a great recipe and I will use it again next time. Thank you for your assistance.

[Cheffie]

Hi Natalie

Glad it worked out fine.. albeit with a little fun by the looks of it

Re the lemon juice: It is the bitter-sweet mix that you're trying to achieve. I guess a little orange or even lime juice might work too. It gives it the balance that it needs.

The brown outer layer comes from excessive heat and uneven temperature. Perhaps the oven was a little too hot to start or maybe the short period it was in with the lemon meringue tipped it over the edge? It could also be a 'hot spot' in the oven that caused it.

For something different and to 'disguise' the colouration.. slice some fruit onto the top, dust with castor sugar or a little icing sugar and glaze it with a blow torch. The crunch of the caramelised sugar, softness of the fruit and firmness of the cheesecake will marry up well.

When making your coulis.. make sure it complements it rather than causing a clash of tastes.