Cheesecake crazy

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Posted at 12:33PM, 04 May 2010 by Carol Wilson - Food writer

A slice of rich velvety cheesecake served with fresh fruits or berries is one of my favourite summer desserts. Although I enjoy uncooked cheesecakes, which have a cream cheese filling on a biscuit, crumb base, I also love the very different cooked cheesecakes, which are baked in the oven.

Italian cheesecakes made with fresh ricotta and fruit are much lighter and a joy to eat

I'm a keen baker and over the years I've come across some weird and wonderful recipes; some are impossibly rich - one recipe contains six eggs, soured cream, cream cheese and double cream, while another is made with caramel syrup, chopped fudge, roasted peanuts, chopped chocolate, cream cheese and lots of sugar and butter. In contrast Italian cheesecakes made with fresh ricotta and fruit are much lighter and a joy to eat.

In Yorkshire where I grew up, creamy curd tarts remain a favourite speciality and are very much a Yorkshire delicacy sold in bakers' shops throughout the county. I love the moist texture of the filling encased in crisp golden pastry - and the fact that the recipe has hardly changed since its creation in the Middle Ages.

Curd cheese is similar to cream cheese, but has a lower fat content. It's made from pasteurised milk and is available in both low and medium fat versions and has a mild, tangy flavour. If you can't find curd cheese, cottage cheese can be used instead, but it must be sieved first. The result will not be as rich, but will still taste delicious.

As ever, using butter (not margarine), free range farm eggs and fresh curd or cream cheese makes a huge difference to the taste. Curiously, some old English cheesecake recipes omitted cheese completely! One example is a lemon cheesecake created in the late 17th century. The filling consisted of pounded lemon peel, egg yolks, sugar and butter and this mixture is still known today as 'lemon curd' or 'lemon cheese'.

When it comes to baked cheesecakes, one of the main complaints from cooks is that the top of the filling cracks as it cooks. It still tastes fine, but looks unsightly. Through trial and error I've realised that this can be prevented by mixing the filling ingredients together at medium rather than high speed; don't open the oven door during the first half hour of cooking and when the cheesecake is cooked, turn off the oven but leave the cheesecake in the oven to cool down slowly before removing from the tin. If all else fails and it still cracks you can cover the surface with whipped cream or fresh fruit or drizzle with chocolate.

Do you have a favourite cheesecake?

Comments

James

4 May 2010, 5:03PM
James

I don't sieve the cottage cheese just add it in as it is - 1/2 cream cheese 1/2 cottage cheese - adds texture. Also after doing 500 cheesecakes found cracking was due to 2 things - oven temperature too high - likes to be 160 oC for a large cheesecake, or mini muffin size you can get away with 180 oC. Other thing is cooking too long. Have to take out just before you think it's ready as it continues to cook as it cools down. It's all too easy to think it's not cooked and leave it in, but then it cracks because it was in too long.

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Lushious

4 May 2010, 8:33PM
Lushious

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/5878/ultimate-new-york-cheesecake Angela Nilsen's Ultimate New York Cheesecake delivers on taste and cuts some for the fat. Foolproof and I have made this again and again and it never fails to please.

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Cassandra Amy Rose

5 May 2010, 1:30PM
Cassandra Amy Rose

http://www.channel4.com/food/recipes/chefs/hugh-fearnley-whittingstall/cheesecake_with_damson_sauce_p_1.html The best baked cheesecake ever! I don't do the damson sauce to go with it, I find fresh fruit is nicer. It doesn't crack on top either!

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smitty

6 May 2010, 10:04AM
smitty

Curd tart is delicious. I've never seen it outside Yorkshire though. Bettys in Harrogate do the best I've tasted.

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dean_tanya

7 May 2010, 1:15PM
dean_tanya

Baked raspberry cheesecake: there's a reason why it's one of the top-rated recipes on the entire site! http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3842/baked-raspberry-cheesecake I've made it with different berries, and it always turns out beautifully and deliciously! A little gem of a recipe!

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fabulousbakergirl

10 May 2010, 10:24PM
fabulousbakergirl

the first cheesecake Carol describes sounds like a recipe from Good Housekeeping from a few years back. It is extremely rich and comes with a blueberry and cinnamon compote. Very heavy but gorgeous. Also Avoca (which is like an Irish version of Ottolenghi) has a superb recipe for Chocoate Raspberry cheesecake brownies. Again not the lightest of desserts but irrestible...

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Belinda

18 May 2010, 2:33PM
Belinda

I agree with Lushious! Angela Nilsen's Ultimate New York Cheesecake delivers on taste every time and never cracks! Absolute winner for me.

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JULIE ELDEN

24 May 2010, 8:52PM
JULIE ELDEN

The sticky toffee cheesecakle is just to die for. It is baked cheesecake and I use Dulce de leche caramel sauce for the topping, to hide a few cracks. Trouble is, I can't get the Dulce de leche in Stoke on Trent, on line orders only and the p&p outweighs the cost of the product. The cheesecake is not too sickly despite being covered in caramel sauce, it is just delicious.

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busylizzie

26 May 2010, 10:20AM
busylizzie

Oh!dear, I feel I'm the only one in the world who doesn't like cheesecake. Every one I have tried is just too sickly, even lemon cheesecake. My mother in law used to make curd tarts with a pastry base and I didn't like them either. I feel I'm missing out somehow!!

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Habsah61

28 May 2010, 10:09AM
Habsah61

I love cheesecake so much and my kids, too. Here, I have problem when cutting the cheesecakes...aha...always sticky to the knife... as I have to clean the knife again for the second cut. Do you have any ideas to overcome the problem? Thanks so much.

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