Baking: cheesecake

[ewt]

It was Pentecost this weekend, so I made cheesecake -- a sort of hangover from the years I spent following orthodox Judaism, that has stuck with me because this holiday is one that Christians also have.

I've adapted it from Leon Hirschbaum's Golden Cheesecake, but at this stage I've made various changes.

Ingredients:

For the cheesecake:
1.5 kg cream cheese -- I use 6 x 250g Waitrose own brand, as it doesn't have thickeners in it (Philadelphia now has locust bean gum or some other thing in it, sigh).
500g mascarpone cheese
8 or 9 large eggs (depending how large they are)
1 tsp of vanilla extract, or equivalent in fresh vanilla pods or preserved seeds in syrup or what have you
zest of 1 lemon (unwaxed, for preference)
1 cup sugar (or 250g -- yes I know this isn't the same -- getting this right doesn't really matter, I'm using about half the sugar that was in the original recipe and it's still fine)

For the crust:
-butter, enough to thickly line your pan(s)
-crushed amaretti biscuits and/or toasted ground almonds, enough to line your pan(s); you could probably use some other kind of biscuit if nuts are problem.

This cheesecake is cooked with the "crust" on the bottom and then overturned, to give a golden top and no base. Amaretti biscuits give a thinner, sweeter, more delicate crust than the ground almonds do.

Equipment:
-large mixing bowl
-large baking tin(s), not springform
-if possible, another large tin that you can put the first one(s) in to act as a water bath (if you don't have one big enough, trays on the bottom of the oven with some water in them will do)
-oven that will heat to 140ºC
-electric balloon whisk (optional but HIGHLY recommended)
-something to zest the lemon with


Instructions:

Preheat oven to 140ºC.

Smear lots of butter all over the sides and bottom of your baking pan(s). I used to have a huge cake tin that just fit this cheesecake in it; I don't have it any more, and so usually end up using two smaller ones, but I'm always on the lookout for the perfect cheesecake tin (for a few years Bacofoil did very adequate disposable ones, but they've stopped doing that size now, much to my dismay). Take the crushed biscuits/ground almonds and sprinkle liberally into the pans, ensuring everything is coated. If you do not do this step well, you may have difficulty getting the cheesecake out of the pan later. It's okay to have some extra crumbs rolling around the bottom of the pan.

Use the electric whisk to blend the cheeses together. Add eggs, one at a time, and mix. Add sugar, vanilla extract, and lemon zest, and keep blending.

When fully blended, gently pour the batter into the pan(s). Set in the water bath, or put trays of cold water in the bottom of your oven.

Bake for two hours. Do not open the door!
Turn the oven off but DO NOT open the door! Leave to rest in the warm oven.
Remove cheesecake from oven and cool for a further two hours at room temperature.
Refrigerate for 12 hours as long as you can wait, or freeze for later use. (I find it helpful, when I can be bothered, to cut up the frozen cheesecake into individual portions).

To serve, invert the cheesecake on a board or tray, and lift off the pan. You may need to jiggle it around a bit.

If you want to decorate it, keep some of the amaretti biscuits whole, and put them on top.

I don't think there's any reason why you couldn't halve this recipe, and have a sensible amount of cheesecake. I simply never think of having a sensible amount of cheesecake.

I have no idea how long this keeps. It generally gets eaten before I find out.