Just a quick note about cheesecake: recently, I went to a coffeeshop that had been recommended to me and had a slice of cheesecake, since that's their thing. I was expecting it to be pretty good, since they're known for it and all, but I was pretty dissapointed. It was supposed to be mocha flavored, but it was hardly flavored at all. it had a nice texture, but not the dense creamyness that I expect in a cheesecake. I think some of this stems from the tw schools of cheesecake thought. In one, cheesecake should be light and airy to balance out the dense creamcheese. In mine, however, it should be dense and creamy and not too sweet, the tartness balanceing out the heavyness of the creamcheese. But still, I was surprised at what I precieved as the inadequacy of said cheesecake. Moral: make your own.
I began by using chocolate teddy grahams for the crust, because they were cheaper than chocolate wafers. I really liked the crust they produced - a little sturdier than usual, with the graham flour yielding a more dynamic texture. Crumb crusts are one of my favorite things in the world, so I opted for a thicker crust all the way around rather than the crust going up the sides, so each bite would be sufficiently crusted.
To make the coffee and chocolate layers, I heated up some of the cream and poured half of it over some chocolate chips (about 1/4 cup). I steeped the rest with coffee grounds in a French press. Then I divided the cheesecake batter (about 1/3 - 2/3) and added the chocolate to the smaller amount and the coffee to the larger, and layered them into the pan. I didn't add any lemon juice or liquer. I baked it for about 35 minutes, then spead it with sour cream with a little sugar and vanilla mixed in.
I didn't bake the cheesecake in a waterbath because I don't have a pan bigger than my springform. As a result, the top cracked, but I don't think the texture suffered at all. However, the sour cream topping did get a little overcooked from leaving the cake in the turned off oven. the topping should be distinct in it's tangyness and color, but should be the same creamy texture as the cheesecake. Instead, it's a little less creamy and more distinct. But the other layers just right.
Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake:
crust:
2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs
1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted
2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
cheesecake:
3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature
1 cup / 210 g sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)
1 tbsp liqueur, optional, but choose what will work well with your cheesecake
DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.
2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too - baker's choice. Set crust aside.
3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.
4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.
5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.
