The very first cheesecake I ever made was a Chocolate Vanilla Marble with a chocolate crust. The second I ever did was a Raspberry Chocolate Swirl. I never actually did a simple cheesecake. I made a wide variety of different flavours, but I always believed I had a basic recipe. I just never actually made a plain, basic cheesecake.
I finally had a chance to try this for an Aikido Potluck. I took most of my recipes and pared them down to the most basic essence.
Preheat an oven to 300. I prefer to use convection.
For a 10x12 Pyrex pan, I made a crust with:
2c ground up chocolate animal cookies from Whole Foods.
4 tbsp of butter that was melted in the microwave.
I have done 1 lb of chocolate cookies with one stick of melted butter,a nd it worked very well.
In an earlier attempt, I used some organic graham crackers that I really didn't like the taste of.
Press the crust into a pan. No need to butter the pan. Put the pan with the crust in an oven at 300 for 10 minutes, then press more firmly as it slightly cools. Let the crust and pan cool completely, or the edge of the cake will cook faster than the center and the cake will deform a bit.
For the batter:
Bring out all the ingredients and bring them up to room temperature, especially the cream cheese and the eggs.
6 packages of regular cream cheese at room temperature (I prefer Philadelphia)
1 1/2c of granulated sugar
Beat the two together in a mixer until smooth.
Add 1 tbsp of vanilla and blend in.
Add 6 eggs. Beat until the batter is smooth. Don't over beat the cake batter; you want smooth and not frothy. Over beating the eggs makes the whole cake texture more bubbly and less smooth.
If the cream cheese is too cold when you start to mix it, the batter will be lumpy, the colour won't be uniform, and you might end up wrecking your mixer. It is okay to leave the lumpy batter at room temperature for a little while and then try to blend it again if you were in a rush and didn't get your cheese to room temperature. There will be fewer lumps if you leave the eggs on the counter for an hour or so before you mix them in.
I then pour the batter over the crust. It will be fairly liquid. There is no need to smooth it out - the heat of the oven will melt the cheese and the batter will smooth out nicely.
I put a 9x9 pan 2/3rds full of water on the bottom rack, and I put the cake on the middle rack. This step helps prevent the cake cracking, which is really just a cosmetic thing and not essential.
I give it 25-30 minutes in the oven (no more). Keep the door closed. The top should still slightly jiggle when the pan is moved, but as it cools the cake will become more firm. The cake will also sink slightly as it cools. Cheesecakes are not tested with a toothpick or knife like other cakes.
The cake does not need to come out of the oven right away - leave the door cracked open and turn the oven off - this is my preferred way to cool it.
I had a friend bring jars of strawberry pie filling to work for this cake, and that worked well as a topping.
I did make one with a pineapple pudding layer, then toasted coconut merangue on top. It's fine to bake other layers on top, but it is very important that the cake and pan be fully cooled in between baking or your topping will bake unevenly and probably leave a layer of clear sweet liquid between the cake and the topping. I either bake the topping first on the stove or I try a topping that can bake in 10 minutes in the oven.
* For a gluten free cake, just use gluten free cookies ground up into crumbs or omit the crust. There is no flour in this cake.
I finally had a chance to try this for an Aikido Potluck. I took most of my recipes and pared them down to the most basic essence.
Preheat an oven to 300. I prefer to use convection.
For a 10x12 Pyrex pan, I made a crust with:
2c ground up chocolate animal cookies from Whole Foods.
4 tbsp of butter that was melted in the microwave.
I have done 1 lb of chocolate cookies with one stick of melted butter,a nd it worked very well.
In an earlier attempt, I used some organic graham crackers that I really didn't like the taste of.
Press the crust into a pan. No need to butter the pan. Put the pan with the crust in an oven at 300 for 10 minutes, then press more firmly as it slightly cools. Let the crust and pan cool completely, or the edge of the cake will cook faster than the center and the cake will deform a bit.
For the batter:
Bring out all the ingredients and bring them up to room temperature, especially the cream cheese and the eggs.
6 packages of regular cream cheese at room temperature (I prefer Philadelphia)
1 1/2c of granulated sugar
Beat the two together in a mixer until smooth.
Add 1 tbsp of vanilla and blend in.
Add 6 eggs. Beat until the batter is smooth. Don't over beat the cake batter; you want smooth and not frothy. Over beating the eggs makes the whole cake texture more bubbly and less smooth.
If the cream cheese is too cold when you start to mix it, the batter will be lumpy, the colour won't be uniform, and you might end up wrecking your mixer. It is okay to leave the lumpy batter at room temperature for a little while and then try to blend it again if you were in a rush and didn't get your cheese to room temperature. There will be fewer lumps if you leave the eggs on the counter for an hour or so before you mix them in.
I then pour the batter over the crust. It will be fairly liquid. There is no need to smooth it out - the heat of the oven will melt the cheese and the batter will smooth out nicely.
I put a 9x9 pan 2/3rds full of water on the bottom rack, and I put the cake on the middle rack. This step helps prevent the cake cracking, which is really just a cosmetic thing and not essential.
I give it 25-30 minutes in the oven (no more). Keep the door closed. The top should still slightly jiggle when the pan is moved, but as it cools the cake will become more firm. The cake will also sink slightly as it cools. Cheesecakes are not tested with a toothpick or knife like other cakes.
The cake does not need to come out of the oven right away - leave the door cracked open and turn the oven off - this is my preferred way to cool it.
I had a friend bring jars of strawberry pie filling to work for this cake, and that worked well as a topping.
I did make one with a pineapple pudding layer, then toasted coconut merangue on top. It's fine to bake other layers on top, but it is very important that the cake and pan be fully cooled in between baking or your topping will bake unevenly and probably leave a layer of clear sweet liquid between the cake and the topping. I either bake the topping first on the stove or I try a topping that can bake in 10 minutes in the oven.
* For a gluten free cake, just use gluten free cookies ground up into crumbs or omit the crust. There is no flour in this cake.
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