Birthday Cheesecake

Every year since we first met, I have made my husband (I’ll call him JK) a cheesecake for his birthday.  Why, you ask?

     1. Because I believe everyone should have someone make them a homemade birthday cake of their choice for their birthday.

         a. It’s very loving, in my eyes, to spend the time and effort making a homemade cake.  There are a lot of steps: researching the recipe, buying the ingredients, making/baking it, and then finally frosting/decorating it.

         b. I believe homemade cake is far better than store-bought.

         c. Cake is delicious, and what better time to eat some than your birthday!

     2. Because cheesecake happens to be his favorite “cake”.  (Cheesecake is not my favorite -- I never order a slice at a restaurant or grab a square at a potluck, but come on, it’s JK’s birthday after all.)

     3. If nothing else, I can always produce a homemade cake and a (sometimes homemade) card for JK.  I do like to give gifts, but what can I say, I hate shopping!  Instead of wandering a mall for gift ideas, I’d rather spend that time whipping up something tasty for him at home!

For better or worse, I don't make cheesecake any other time of year.  I make one a year, just for JK’s birthday.  Since I’m not making cheesecakes week after week, my cheesecake experiments have become a very long, drawn-out iterative process.  In order to track what I’ve done each year, and make improvements, I keep all of my recipes in a file and take detailed notes.  It’s fun.

The first year I followed a recipe charmingly entitled “Heavenly Cheesecake”, and although it was edible, the name was definitely misleading considering it only had one 8-ounce package of light (Neufchatel) cream cheese in it, and the rest was non-fat yogurt and low-fat ricotta cheese.  Yes, I still have the recipe, although only for nostalgia, since I never plan to make it again.  It seriously lacked richness and creaminess, not to mention flavor.  I have to remember that those were the days when I bought skim milk and low- or reduced-fat dairy products, so that puts it in perspective.  (Now I buy full-fat cream cheese--Organic Valley, mmm, delicious--and even whole milk.  I’ll dedicate a future blog post about my opinion on the advantages, flavor and otherwise, of full-fat dairy.)

Over the subsequent years, I have tried many things:

     1. Using generic or low-fat cream cheese (I don’t recommend it),

     2. Trying various versions of chocolate wafer crumb crusts (including egg whites, adding cocoa, and varying the amounts of sugar and butter),

     3. Topping the cake with a myriad of fruits (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, etc); sometimes made into a sauce, sometimes fresh and sugared, sometimes –gasp!– from a can, and

     4. Baking the cake in a variety of ways, all in an attempt to avoid the inevitable Grand Canyon cheesecake crack.  These included: baking in a hot oven for a brief time, then switching to a very low oven; keeping the cake inside the oven after baking and propping the oven door open with a wooden spoon; baking in a water bath (soggy bottom crust!).  None of these methods ever kept the crack at bay.

Then this year –cheesecake #11– was the first year ever that it didn’t crack.  I didn’t change the filling recipe, so it was a miracle!  Actually, it wasn’t a miracle: I changed the way I baked it, and I finally settled upon something that worked.  Am I done tinkering with the recipe, because it is finally perfect?  No, but it’s pretty good, even for non-Cheesecake-lovers.  It’s indulgent and decadent without being as thick and over-the-top as a New York Cheesecake.

Despite no crack, I am still decorating it with fruit on top when I serve it for two reasons: 1) the cake is creamy and lightly sweet and perfect for pairing with fruit, and 2) the cake’s top bubbled up and browned unevenly* during the last baking step, causing it still to be unsightly, even without a crack (boo hoo, the bad luck!).  I’ll keep plugging away at it, now to eliminate the brown bubbles.  But it will have to wait till next year!  ;)

JK’s Favorite Cheesecake

Makes one 9” cheesecake, 12 servings

Crust:

8 oz. (about 15 regular sheets) of graham crackers, finely crushed crumbs

4 oz. (8 T., or 1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

3.5 oz. (½ c.) granulated sugar

1/8 t. table salt

1. Adjust oven rack to lower middle position, and preheat oven to 350F.  Melt butter and brush just enough on to evenly coat the bottom and sides of a 9” round springform pan.

2. Finely process crackers into crumbs in a food processor (easiest method), or in batches in a large freezer ziptop bag with a rolling pin (more tedious).

3. Transfer crumbs to a large bowl, mix in sugar and salt, and then blend in remaining melted butter.  Mixture will resemble wet sand.

4. Press crumb mixture into the bottom and 2/3 of the way up the sides of the springform pan.  Use a straight-sided drinking glass or measuring cup to help press the crumbs evenly.

5. Carefully place the pan onto a rimmed baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes until you can just smell it and it looks slightly browned.  Remove the baking sheet and pan, and place on a cooling rack while you get ready to pour the filling in.

6. Turn the oven to 200F and place an oven thermometer on the oven rack so you can check the true oven temperature.

Filling:

3 x 8-oz. bricks of full-fat cream cheese, brand-name and/or organic

7 oz. (1 c.) granulated sugar

2 T. all-purpose flour

¼ t. table salt

2 oz. (¼ c.) heavy cream

1 t. real vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1 large egg yolk

1. Let the cream cheese stand at room temperature until it is fully softened (at least 1.5-2 hours).  The cream cheese MUST be soft to proceed with the recipe.  If you can’t wait, then cut the cheese into ½-inch chunks and microwave it very carefully, at 15 second intervals, while stirring and squishing it until it is fully softened.  I used a Thermapen thermometer to ensure that my cheese was at about 70F.

2. Put the softened cheese into the bowl of a stand mixer and mix with the paddle attachment on low speed until it is creamy.  In a separate bowl, mix the sugar, flour, and salt, and gradually blend it into the cheese until fully incorporated.  Scrape down bowl and paddle with rubber scraper.

3. Mix together the cream and vanilla, and gradually add them to the cream cheese mixture, with the machine on low speed.  Scrape down bowl and paddle.

4. Add the eggs, one at a time, and then the yolk, with the machine on low speed, scraping down the bowl between additions.

5. OPTIONAL STEP, if you are finicky.  In batches, press the filling mixture through a mesh strainer with a rubber scraper, into a bowl.  This will eliminate any remaining cheese clumps that didn’t get thoroughly mixed in.  If you don’t care about that, skip this step.

6. Carefully pour the mixture into the graham cracker crust, and carefully smooth the top with a small offset metal spatula.  The filling should have a thick, pudding-like consistency.

7. *ANOTHER OPTIONAL STEP.  To eliminate bubbles, let the cake rest on the counter for 10 minutes to allow bubbles to rise to the surface, then rake the tines of a fork through the surface to pop any bubbles.  I didn’t do this, and I probably should have.

8. Place the pan on the rimmed baking sheet in the 200F oven and bake for approximately 1.5-2 hours, until center of cheesecake measures 165F with an instant-read thermometer.  Cake will be mostly set, and will jiggle only very slightly when the sheet pan is gently shaken.  Remove from the oven.

9. Move oven rack to upper middle position and increase oven temperature to 500F.  Once the oven is fully heated, place baking sheet with cheesecake back into the oven on the upper rack, and bake for another 4-6 minutes, until cake is evenly browned.  Watch it carefully, you don't want to burn it now!

10. Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes on a cooling rack.  Run a thin paring knife around between the cheesecake and the inside of the springform pan, but don’t open the springform pan.  Let it cool fully, about 2.5 hours, then wrap tightly in plastic wrap and put in refrigerator until it’s fully cold and set.  I did this overnight, but it probably would take about 4 hours.

Fruit Topping:

A handful (~1 c.) of fresh, or frozen-thawed, berries of your choice (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, or cherries are our favorites)

~2 T. granulated sugar, to taste

1. Mix fruit and sugar, and let macerate for 20 minutes.  Remove the sides of the springform pan, and slide a thin knife between cheesecake bottom and pan bottom to release.  Carefully transfer cheesecake to a serving platter, cut into 12 wedges, and serve with fruit topping on the side.

2. OPTIONAL.  If you want it to look fancier, make a cooked/thickened fruit topping, spread it over the top to cover the whole cake, and serve the whole cake at once (see cheesecake fruit topping recipe at Smitten Kitchen blog).  We never do this, because we hoard the cake between the two of us.  We freeze over half of it, pre-cut in slices (it freezes beautifully for several months) to eat with fresh strawberries out of our garden once they’re ready in June.  Yum.

This recipe is an adaption/combination of recipes and methods from the Smitten Kitchen blog (crust), Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook circa 1970’s (filling), and Cooks Illustrated magazine (baking method).

Enjoy.  Forward Flavor!