Traditional Cheesecake

I adore cheesecake.  I find myself often craving a luxurious creamy slice.  I prefer a New York style of cheesecake, which has a little more tang (from sour cream).  And while chocolate, marbled, Baileys, and the other flavours of the rainbow are delicious, I prefer a traditional cheesecake.

However, I have found that others do not share my extreme cheesecake cravings.  I think they have been ruined by “no-bake” versions covered in sickeningly sweet cheery sauce from a can that tastes very little like cherries.  A good cheesecake should taste rich but not overly sweet.  It must be baked.  And it is a bit of work to create, but the result is so much more than the sum of its parts.  It will make you crave cheesecake over and over again.

The problem with making this for guests is that cheesecake is a fickle beast who loves to crack.  I have made it many times; sometimes it cracks, sometimes it doesn’t.  I’m not sure if it is the temperature of the air, the amount I beat the mixture, or that the Cheesecake gods were not smiling on me that day.  But cracks or not, the result is always delicious, and any cracks can be hidden with homemade cherry sauce, caramel, chocolate ganache, or whatever topping you choose.  Some notes to help prevent cracking: cheesecake must be cooked gently in a water bath.  Yes it’s a pain but it is necessary for this temperamental dessert.  You also don’t want to remove the cheesecake from the oven immediately when done.  Turn the oven off, crack it open and leave the cheesecake to cool in its water bath in the oven for a good hour.

Cheesecake also must be made the day before you want to serve it.  It requires a lot of time to cool and set and benefits from hanging out overnight in the fridge.  This recipe from Dorie Greenspan is made with cream cheese (as opposed to ricotta) and includes sour cream for a delicious amount of tang.  While the recipe calls for a 9-inch springform pan, I used my 10-inch pan (the only one I own).  It was still delicious, although this time it did crack….so maybe use a 9-inch if you have it.

I served this cheesecake for Easter this year, with a choice of toppings including a homemade cherry sauce from cherries I picked last year and froze.  Any fresh or frozen cherries will work fine.  If you prefer sour cherries, you may want to increase the amount of sugar in the recipe to compensate for their tartness (or if you like it tart, leave it!)

Cheesecake

From Dorie Greenspan, Baking with Dorie

For the crust:

1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
3 Tbsp sugar
pinch of salt
4 Tbsp (1/2 stick) butter, melted

For the Cheesecake:

2 pounds (4 8-oz boxes) cream cheese, at room temperature
1 1/3 cups sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/3 cup sour cream or heavy cream, or a combination of the two (I used equal parts both)

To make the crust:

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Butter a 9-inch springform pan that has sides that are at least 2 3/4 inches high (see note). Wrap the bottom of the pan in a double layer of aluminum foil and place the pan on a baking sheet.

Stir the crumbs, sugar and salt together in a medium bowl. Pour over the melted butter and using your fingers, mix until all of the dry ingredients are uniformly moist. Turn the ingredients into the buttered springform pan and use your fingers to pat an even layer of crumbs along the bottom of the pan and partway up the sides. Don’t worry if the sides are not perfectly even.

Center a rack in the oven and place the springform pan on a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Set the crust aside to cool on a rack while you make the cheesecake.

Reduce the oven temperature to 325F.

To make the cheesecake:

Put a kettle of water on to boil.

Beat the cream cheese at medium speed until it is soft and lives up to the creamy part of its name, about 4 minutes. With the mixer running, add the sugar and salt and continue to beat another 4 minutes or so until the cream cheese is light. Beat in the vanilla. Add the eggs one by one, beating for a full minute after each addition you want a well-aerated batter. Reduce the mixer speed to low and stir in the sour cream and/or heavy cream.

Put the foil-wrapped springform pan in a roasting pan that is larger in diameter than the springform pan. Stir the cheesecake mixture one more time, to ensure everything has been mixed and scrape the batter into the springform pan. The batter will reach the brim of the pan. Put the roasting pan in the oven and pour enough boiling water into the roasting pan to come halfway up the sides of the springform pan.

Bake the cheesecake for 1 hour and 30 minutes, at which point the top will be slightly golden, but will still jiggle slightly in the middle, and may have risen just a little above the rim of the pan. Turn off the oven’s heat and prop the oven door open with a wooden spoon. Allow the cheesecake to luxuriate in its water bath for another hour.

After 1 hour, carefully pull the setup out of the oven, lift the springform pan out of the roasting pan- be careful there may be some how water in the foil- remove the foil. Let the cheesecake come to room temperature on a cooling rack.

When the cake is cool, cover the top lightly and chill the cake for at least 4 hours, although overnight would be better.

Cherry Topping
Smitten Kitchen

10 ounces sweet or sour cherries, pitted
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 cup sugar (see note)
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 cup water

Place all ingredients together in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Once it is boiling, cook it for an additional one to two minutes then remove from heat. Cool completely.