August 2024 - Cheesecake

Above: lemon cheesecake, garnished with lemon slices, blossoms, and leaves, with edible nigella flowers

Two of my oldest friends, separately, in the last month, asked me if I baked cheesecake. This stung me to the very heart as I consider myself to be an excellent cheesecake baker, from way, way back. As a kid, I baked for the local fair competition, testing recipes all summer, then entering the Santa Cruz County Fair in September. I tackled cheesecake baking with gusto, learning a lot about its intricacies. I won my first blue ribbon for cheesecake 47 years ago, 2 years later, winning the Best of Show award and the C & H prize of 10 pounds of sugar.
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But that was a very long time ago, many more cakes and desserts have caught my attention. Due to both its relatively costly ingredients and massive calorie count, cheesecake is usually a special occasion cake. I realized it had fallen out of my baking rotation. These girlfriends had to be forgiven for not knowing if I baked cheesecake because neither had ever seen me bake a cheesecake. For the past 18 years or so, I have baked one cheesecake a year, a small (7-inch) one for Mr. V’s birthday: one! Life is just too short for that sort of deprivational nonsense.
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Above: a good photo of  Lucinda Scala Quinn's New York style cheesecake recipe at Martha Stewart.com

​Wanting to dive right into this new era of my cheesecake renaissance, I bought the 3-pound food service box of cream cheese, a big tub of sour cream, and a few dozen eggs from my neighbor with all the chickens. The only problem is, um, it’s July and it’s around 108°F in the shade. I don’t want to turn on the oven. Hmmm. Many cheesecake recipes call for the batter to be baked in a foil-wrapped springform pan, set in a water bath. This ensures even, gentle baking, resulting in a velvety smooth cheesecake. Similar conditions can be created with a stovetop steamer and with an electric pressure cooker, such as an Instant Pot. Using 6-inch and 7-inch cake pans, I baked one cheesecake in the Instant Pot and one on the stovetop, in a big stockpot, with a rack in the bottom. Both came out perfectly.

Right:
Half a steamed 6-inch cheesecake with miniature white peaches from our landlord’s garden and our own little strawberries from the Mexican terra cotta strawberry pot that has been producing for over 15 years. It’s shown on top of some cheesecake research, featuring recipes and advice from the Joy of Cooking. Irma Rombauer has a lot to say about cheesecake cookery, reminding bakers that cheesecakes are actually very rich custards rather than true cakes. It does make sense, I suppose.

​The lemon topped cheesecake shown in the first photo of this month’s blog is a favorite recipe I got from our cooking teacher, Miss Charlotte, not to be confused with Miss Charlotte, my beloved though deceased cat. Cheesecake lovers agree that this is the ultimate New York-ish cheesecake. It combines the best of Joy of Cooking’s recipe for standard New York cheesecake and adds a baked-on sour cream topping AND a clear lemon glaze. It is the best of all cheesecake worlds, combining the dry texture of the NY cheesecake, the creaminess of the sour cream layer, and the tart lemon glaze on top. Many of you will find the source recipe in your own old copy of Joy of Cooking; I found it in my mom’s 1997 copy, on page 980. I also found a link online, at Rombauer.com to Irma Rombauer’s great nephew, Koerner Rombauer’s, winery, in the Napa Valley, which archives some of the Joy of Cooking recipes. Small world, eh?

Though I seldom baked my favorite plain cheesecake, other flavors of cheesecakes do appear in the rotation more frequently, with Rose’s pumpkin cheesecake being an autumn staple. A natural for thanksgiving, it is also a winning choice for any fall birthdays and celebrations. If well wrapped, cheesecakes can be made several days before the party, waiting patiently in the fridge. At My Tea Planner, we have Rose’s treasured pumpkin cheesecake recipe.  
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If anyone would like the sour cream topping and lemon glaze recipes, drop me a note in the comment section and I will send it along. Meanwhile, here is the recipe for a small cheesecake made without turning on the oven.

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Small Cheesecake for Instant Pot* or Stovetop Steamer

Make this petite cheesecake when it’s too hot to turn on the stove. Begin a day ahead for overnight chilling. Serve as is or pile summer fruit on top, just before serving. The small size makes it perfect to serve anytime, not just on special occasions. Works with a 6- or 7-inch cake pan or springform pan.

Serves 2 to 6

Special equipment: 6- or 7-inch cake pan lined with a round of parchment paper and sprayed with baking spray, hand or stand mixer with bowl, silicone scraper, small bowl, foil, Instant Pot with rack or stockpot with rack, boiling water, cooling rack, and thin knife.
Note: If using springform pan, wrap bottom with heavy duty foil to prevent water from seeping inside pan
 
Optional crust:
½ cup graham cracker or shortbread cookie crumbs
1 tablespoon sugar
¼ cup melted butter

Cake:

• 2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, at room temperature
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons flour, optional
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• Optional sour cream topping:
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 tablespoon sugar
  
  

1. If using optional crust, mix all crust ingredients together and pat into bottom of prepared pan.
2. In mixer bowl, beat softened cream cheese on low speed, scraping down sides as needed. Beat on medium-low speed for 15-20 seconds, or until smooth. Set aside. In small bowl, mix sugar, optional flour, and salt. Gradually mix dry ingredients into cream cheese. Scrape down sides. On low speed, beat in one egg at a time, scraping down bowl after each addition. Stir in vanilla. Scrape deep into bottom of mixing bowl to be sure all batter ingredients are thoroughly combined and smooth.
3. Scrape batter into prepared pan. Cover cake pan with foil, making sure foil does not touch water. Carefully put pan on rack in stockpot or Instant Pot. Add boiling water to come halfway up the sides of the foil-covered pan. Cover and adjust heat so water is at a medium boil. For Instant Pot, add recommended amount of water and set on High. Steam for 30 to 35 minutes or until the center of the cake is jiggly and the edges look set. Remove to cooling rack, uncover carefully so as not to get condensation moisture on cake top.
4. For optional sour cream topping, stir together sour cream and sugar and spread evenly over top of hot cake. Return to stockpot, put on lid, and cook for an additional 5 minutes, adding more boiling water, if needed. For Instant Pot, put cake pan back inside pot, put on lid and let sit for 1 hour. No need to turn the machine on, as the residual heat will set the sour cream topping.
5. Chill several hours or overnight. To serve, run a thin knife around edge of pan before unmolding.

*Detailed instructions for pressure cooker cheesecake: https://www.pressurecookrecipes.com/instant-pot-cheesecake-new-york/ These folks tested their recipe 17 times and left no detail unexamined. I am glad I read it, but it also made my head spin a little bit. I’ll leave it up to you, if you want to dive into this vat of cheesecake information.