Posie’s Place

I was delighted when Sara over at I Like to Cook asked me if I would like to take part in a great blogging event and get my hands on a a fabulous new glossy copy of Dorie Greenspan’s new book “From My Home To Yours”, I jumped at the chance.

I am a complete novice baker, I’ve never really spent any time baking and since Stewart doesn’t have a sweet tooth there has never really been any point but I REALLY LOVE cheesecake and decided this was the perfect recipe to try.

TALL AND CREAMY CHEESECAKE: A BASIC

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE CRUST

• 1 3/4 Cups Crushed Digestive Biscuits (the recipe called for Graham Cracker Crumbs those aren’t available in Switzerland)
• 3 Tbsp Suger
• Pinch of Salt
• 4 Tbsp Melted butter

FOR THE CHEESECAKE

• 900g Cream cheese (I used Philidelphia), at room temperature
• 1 1/3 Cups sugar
• 1/2 Tsp Salt
• The seeds of 1 vanilla pod (the recipe called for 2 Tsp pure vanilla extract)
• 4 Large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 1/3 Cups sour cream (double cream maybe used or a combination of the two)
• I added 1 Tbsp Orange flower water to give the cheesecake a slight orange flavour (this was not in the recipe)

PREPARATION

FOR THE CRUST

1. Butter a 9″ spring sided cake tin (sides should be 2 3/4″ high).
2. The recipe next said to wrap the bottom in a double layer of aluminium foil - I wasn’t sure whether it meant the inside bottom or round the outside and to be honest I could have done with a picture to clarify this point.
3. Combine the digestive biscuit crumbs, the sugar and salt together in a large bowl and then add the melted butter, mix until thoroughly combined.
4. Add the moistened crumbs to the spring sided tin and create an even layer across the base of the tin and approximately half way up the sides of the tin.
5. Place the tin into the freezer to allow the crust to begin to set and turn on the oven to preheat at 350°F/170°C.
6. Once the oven is heated, place the tin on the center shelf and allow to prebake for 10 minutes.
7. After the crust has prebaked remove from the over and set aside to cool whilst making the cheesecake batter.
8. Reduce the temperature of the oven to 325°F/160°C.

FOR THE CHEESECAKE BATTER

1. Boil a kettle of water.
2. Beat the cream cheese at a medium speed until soft and creamy (about 4 minutes). With the mixer still running add the sugar and salt and continue to beat for another 4 minutes or so, the cream cheese should appear light and creamy.
3. Add the vanilla seeds and the egg yolks one by one, after each yolk is added beat the cheese for a further minute.
4. After all of the yolks have been incorporated into the batter, reduce the whisk speed and add the sour cream and mix for a further 1-2 minutes.
5. Place the foil covered cake tin into a roasting pan which allows some space around the tin.
6. Pour the batter into the cake tin, the batter will reach about 3/4 of the way up the sides of the tin.
7. Pour boiling water around the sides of the tin until it reaches half way up the outside of the cake tin.
8. Bake the cheesecake for about 1 hour and 30 minutes. Turn off the oven and prop open with a wooden spoon and allow to cool gently for a further hour. - (The recipe said at this point that the top should be browned, cracked and should have risen a little above the top of the tin but confusingly the picture of the cheesecake was completely white, it would have been really nice to see a realistic picture so I knew what to look for).
9. Remove the tin from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature on a cooling rack.
10. When the cake has cooled to room temperature refridgerate for a minimum of 4 hours or overnight.

My cheesecake was pretty tasty and for a first attempt I was rather pleased with how it turned out. Derek and Estelle acted as my willing victims and acted as taste testers and both cleaned their plates. It was light and creamy and not at all stodgy.

I think the base was supposed to be crisp, unfortunately mine was not, I’m not sure if this was due to the cream cheese being a little too wet or water from the Bain-Marie leeching into the cake tin. The other problem I ran into was more to do with my oven than anything else, I has to turn down the temperature whilst baking to prevent the top from burning.
I really liked Dorie’s book, her recipes really looked and sounded delicious but as a novice I really would have liked to have slightly clearer instructions at times and more photographs.

Thanks again to Sara for asking me to be a part of this exciting event. The round-up will be posted on I Like to Cook as well as Weekend Cookbook Challenge. Check out either site to see the contributions from the other 24 participants!

recipe, food, Weekend Cookbook Challenge, WCC