Monday 15 April 2013

Cheesecake - Baking Partner Challenge #9


Hello, my dear pals.. Hope u all had a wonderful Vishu or Tamil Puthandu or Pohela Boishakh or Gudi Padwa or Ugadhi. Yes, the names are very different. But they all mean the same and every one of them is celebrated in a very similar way with their own lil' twist & turn. Just like how we tweak our recipes to suit our individual taste buds or to incorporate the ingredients available at hand or locally !! So now that the festive mood is over, let's get back to business :D


Challenge of the month for the 'Baking Partners' group was Cheesecake.. U could have your pick from Japanese Cheesecake or Eggless Cheesecake or No Bake Fruit Cheesecake or the Perfect Cheesecake ;) Yup, you guessed it right, I went for the Perfect Cheesecake. Yea, you could say that the name fancied me, alright !! But the actual reason ,was the tiresome & grueling chore of shopping with a Norsk translator in hand and many a times some normal ingredients are exotic ingredients at this small beautiful village ;) So finally the Perfect Cheesecake seemed to fit into the profile..


But did it turn out to be actually perfect?? That's now an interesting question.. Coz, I don't know to judge this particular piece. I have not had cheesecake before. And certainly it did not appear similar to the pictures I have seen or from the source. I could feel a slight taste of the eggs & the sourness from the sour cream. And it was a litttttle dense too, not on the very fluffy side !! Having said all these, I must also admit that Deeps & I enjoyed having it. though it was a different taste from the normal cakes ;) So I don't know, is this a success or disaster or semi success story, you experts tell me :)


Recipe Source: Simply Recipes (in turn from Dorie Greenspan cookbook)


I Took: 

Preparation Time: 45 minutes

Baking Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Idle Time: Overnight


Yields: 8-12 servings


I Used:


Crust
Digestive biscuits - 1 cup / 8 nos (original recipe calls for Graham Cracker biscuits)
Sugar - 1 tbsp
Salt - A pinch
Unsalted butter - 35 gm (omit salt if using salted butter)
Filling
Cream cheese - 450 gm
Granulated sugar - 135 gm 
Salt - a pinch
Vanilla Essence - 1 tsp
Eggs - 2 large
Sour cream - 80 ml
Heavy whipping cream - 80 ml
Topping
Sour cream - 200 ml
Powdered sugar - 20 gm
Vanilla Essence - 1 tsp

The Way:


Prepare Springform pan
  1. Prepare a 16*16 inch square of aluminum foil. Place the springform pan in the middle of the foil
  2. Gently fold up the sides of the foil around the pan
  3. No holes should be created in the foil as you do this as the presence of holes will allow water to get into the pan and ruin the crust. Press the foil around the edges of the pan
  4. Place a second large square of foil underneath the pan and repeat gently folding up the sides of the foil around the pan and pressing the foil against the pan 
  5. Gently crimp the top of the foil sheets around the top edge of the pan
Prepare Crust 
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F with the baking tray in the lower third of the oven
  2. Blend the biscuits to a fine powder
  3. Place in a wide bowl and mix in sugar and salt to it
  4. Stir in the melted butter and mix well into the biscuit powder
  5. Place this biscuit powder mix in the springform pan. Use your fingers to make an even layer at the bottom with a slight rise along the inside edge of the pan
  6. Place this in oven for 10 minutes
  7. Remove from oven and allow to cool
  8. Reduce the oven temperature to 325 degree F
Prepare Filling
  1. Allow cream cheese to come to room temperature. Then beat on medium speed them till smooth, soft & creamy
  2. Add sugar and beat for 4 minutes
  3. Add salt & vanilla essence beating after each addition
  4. Add eggs one at a time. Beat for a minute after each addition
  5. Add sour cream, beat until incorporated
  6. Add heavy cream, beat until incorporated
  7. Pour this into the springform on top of the biscuit crust and smoothen the top with a spatula
Cook Cheesecake
  1. Prepare 2 L of boiling water
  2. Place the springform pan in the baking tray, Pour the boiling water into the baking tray to create a waterbath for the cheesecake
  3. Water should reach halfway up the springform
  4. Cook for 1.5 hours or until it turns slight golden on the top. In my case it took 1 hour and 15 minutes
  5. Turn off the heat. Open the door of the oven 1 inch and allow the cake to cool for another 1 hour. This is to prevent the cheesecake surface from cracking
  6. Cover the top of the cake with aluminium foil so that it doesn't touch the cake and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight
Prepare topping
  1. Stir in the powdered sugar & vanilla essence into the sour cream
  2. Unmould the cake form the springform and spread the topping over the cake. If interested you can top it up with a fruit coulis of your choice
Cheers,
Chitz

67 comments:

  1. simply wow - its come out so so well :)

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  2. so wowish n yummish dear and nice clicks!!!!

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  3. Yummy cake and nice clicks.. Well explained dear..

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  4. OMG! So yummy and finger licking good cheese cake, would love to bite a piece now.

    today's post:
    http://sanolisrecipies.blogspot.in/2013/04/rava-semolina-idli.html

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  5. butter,cream,cheese I love :))) ahh!!! that must be heaven

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  6. perfect cake and lovely clicks...loved it..

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  7. Ooooh Cheesecake. You are talking my language lady :D

    Love those clicks too. Very tempting :)

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  8. not a cheese cake fan but loved your recipe

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  9. ohhhh wow !!!!! This is soo Tempting ...

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  10. lovely intro...cheese cake looks perfect..so colorful and beautiful..

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  11. wow i am drooling here. lovely cake.

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  12. This came out perfect,great job dear,drool.

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  13. Cheesecake came out perfectly and looks awesome. Love to have a bit of it..

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  14. It's a definitely a WOW!!! The cheesecake is looking very pretty to me, perfect slices. The pictures are lovely..

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  15. perfect cheesecake n love the sourcream topping....

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  16. Delicious combination, looks tempting!
    MAHA

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  17. That does look like a perfect cheese cake. I have never tried baking one myself but have eaten many :-)

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  18. Tht came out really well nd don wrry... U cn add lemon rind to get rid f tht egg smell .. I'm a great fan f cheesecake nd i make sure i bake atleast once a month.. Yes.. Cheesecakes r dense

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  19. Such a pleasing cake. Love your clicks esp. the first one.

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  20. Yum... You're killing me with this cake Chitz.. Now I'm going to dream about having a slice of this all day.... Drool :-)

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  21. it has come out so well chitz... all the cheesecakes on blogosphere is really tempting me to make one... :(

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  22. It surely had turned yummy dear......looks delicious...........

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  23. Wow so delicious and lovely,all of you ladies are posting cheesecakes and it looks great. I just want to grab the whole cake, I am just drooling here. One parcel please....

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  24. Beautiful Chitra. Loved the idea of sourcream topping

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  25. Words can't describe this scrumptious cheese cake..

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  26. I dunno what you were talking about there complaining about your recipe :)! But this cheesecake is just lovely - it looks like one of those alluring display items in bakery. Although, I'm not an expert in baking(Baked only 3 cakes so far), I must say you nailed it. Looks very very tempting and no wonder you and deeps enjoyed eating this.

    Also you must have too much patience to run around with translator, HaHa :) If I were you, I will go see whatever they have in their store, buy them - come back home and construct a recipe out of it :) Crazy me!!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks a lot Pavithra :) Haha.. Construct a recipe?? That's innovation, which I don't have in plenty ;)

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  27. Wow, seriously am in love with this gorgeous cheesecake, wish i get a huge slice of it.

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  28. Whoa!!! This is some delicious stuff!!!
    I am sooooo going to make this...
    Following you...

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  29. Loved ur honest opinion dear...look wise it looks very yummy,I m sure u r being o modest and it would have tasted great too :)

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  30. Complimenti per il fantastico Cheesecake!!! Un abbraccio e felice giornata

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  31. Who could say no to this, love cheese cake...the blueberries luks like a jewel on top.

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  32. WOW! No words to tell simply awesome dear...

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  33. The crust seems a little thicker than it's supposed to be...but other than that, your cheesecake looks all good, Chitz! Yum!

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    Replies
    1. Next time, I will take care to reduce the crust size. Thanks Tina :)

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  34. Hi chitz, u have got a wonderful blog. Am following u. lets stay around Sushmita

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  35. You surely did a great job as I can see the outcome. With the many I have seen so far, yours is different, unique and turned out fabulously.

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  36. Love those berries? on top..gives a professional look to the lovely cheesecake

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  37. Wow...es muy hermoso y diferente su cheesecake me encanta,aabrazos y abrazos.

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  38. Chitra your cheesecake looks perfect, next time you can reduce the amount of crust, it should thinner. Sure it taste great.

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  39. Beautiful chitra loving it. I haven't done it yet hope to do it soon. I love that glaze look on top.

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  40. wow..simply superb,Chitz..yummy cheese cake:)

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  41. Beautifully made cake.. Looks delicious!

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  42. Beautiful recipe and nicely made Chitz !

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  43. Looks great dear! Inviting pics as well.

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  44. nicely done...so beautiful to see...

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  45. hmmm yummy cheesecake :) love the color dear

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  46. Hi Chitz, glad to have ur comment in my blog...I am already loving ur space...loved the cake too....:)...Happy Blogging....

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  47. Looks great Chitz, I feel you had success in your first attempt at cheesecake. But it does have that reputation of being eggy, especially to those who are sensitive to just that. Try pure vanilla extract and take cheesecakes out of the oven when the centers are still wobbly, not baking for longer than that. As for sour cream, you could substitute with yogurt which means a whole new recipe, but I think you have a good thing here. It made me drool ;-))

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    Replies
    1. That's some great tips Tisa, will definitely incorporate them next time !! Maybe, I may love yogurt ones better.. Thank u :)

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  48. Chitz looks so delicious...yummy one my all time fav

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  49. Wow! Must admire your patience! Going around shopping with a translator!! As for the cheesecake its awesome. Looks like a bakry display. Just courious whta are the blue balls on the cake? they go so well with the blue edge of the plate.

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  50. Hi Chitra,

    your cheesecake looks really nice and i like your style of writing the recipe. its so neat and precise !!

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  51. Thanks a lot ladies for your lovely comments & tips :) Feeling very happy !!

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  52. Hi,Stumbled upon your blog by chance and I am glad I did,wonderful cake.Would be happy if you visit my site and pour in your feedback :)

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