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Celebratory Cheesecake
updated: Dec 18, 2010, 8:30 AM

By Leah Etling

We've still got to get through Christmas before New Year's rolls around, but I'm already thinking about how to celebrate 2011. The two C's - champagne and cheesecake - are sounding pretty delicious right now.

Last weekend I made a congratulatory cheesecake for a friend who'd just accepted an exciting new job. This turned out to be the biggest cheesecake I've ever made - it must have weighed about five pounds. When you see the ingredient list you'll see why. There's a lot of cream cheese in this cheesecake. In fact, you could cut this recipe in half and serve a half-dozen people easily.

I ended up taking the leftovers down to Roger Dodger on Milpas Street and he doled them out to friends and neighbors. Everyone got to share in the cheesy goodness and it didn't all go to my waistline, thank goodness. Got to save a little room there for Grandma's Christmas fudge and Danish rice pudding.

So here's a cheesecake mystery. How do you keep those cracks from appearing in the top? My understanding is that temperature variation is to blame for the cracking. I've heard some interesting theories like baking it in a water bath. A seemingly easier suggestion was to leave the cake in the oven after turning the baking time is over. I did this, but it didn't work. When I checked on it one hour after baking time had ended, the cracks were already there.

I ended up filling them with decorative raspberries - problem solved.
Here's the recipe for "perfect" New York cheesecake from allrecipes.com. (I'd call it "basic," rather than perfect. But it's good, and it's even better if you let it sit for 48 hours in the fridge before eating.

Ingredients:

Crust: 15 graham crackers, crushed, mixed with 2 tablespoons butter, melted

Cake:
-4 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
-1 1/2 cups white sugar
-3/4 cup milk
-4 eggs
-1 cup sour cream
-1 tablespoon vanilla extract
-1/4 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9-inch springform pan.
In a medium bowl, mix graham cracker crumbs with melted butter. Press with a fork or your fingers onto bottom of spring form pan.

In a large bowl, mix cream cheese with sugar until smooth. Blend in milk, and then mix in the eggs one at a time, mixing just enough to incorporate. Mix in sour cream, vanilla and flour until smooth. Pour filling into prepared crust.
Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour. Turn the oven off, and let cake cool in oven with the door closed for 5 to 6 hours (in theory, prevents cracking).

Accessorize as desired. Chill in refrigerator until serving, the longer the better.

Got a great cheesecake variation recipe? Share it in the comments section.

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Comments in order of when they were received | (reverse order)

COMMENT 128747	2010-12-18 04:40 PM
Sounds great! You can also bake the cheesecake above a pan of hot water. That will help it to cook evenly and maybe avoid cracking. But leaving it to cool in the turned-off oven for 5-6 hours is not safe! Cheesecake has dairy and egg ingredients, both of which take extra care to keep these foods safe. The temperature range of a slightly warm oven invites bacterial growth. I would rather have cracks than have someone get sick. Thanks for the yummy recipe.
COMMENT 128828	2010-12-19 09:50 AM
A cheesecake for Mercedes lovers?
COMMENT 128857	2010-12-19 10:42 AM
You're officially invited to spend New Year's Eve with me. You bring the cheesecake. I'll bring the champagne. Yum.
SEEDLADY	2010-12-19 10:44 AM
Some years ago I entered KCBX's annual cheescake contest (rip) and found some great books at the library to research the best techniques and recipes. The best was Joy Of Cheesecake (a riff on the 70's 'Joy of Sex' book). The tips I took away were to use a water bath (be sure to wrap the springofrm pan in heavy duty foil--don't trust the seams to be water-tight) let the cake cool down in the oven with the door ajar 4" for about an hour, then cool in pan on wire rack, and substitute Mascarpone cheese for 25% of the cream cheese called for. I won grand prize--but not for a sweet cheesecake--I ended up making a savory one of my own design. Smoked Salmon/Chipotle White Cheddar Cheesecake. It had a crust made from crushed TJ's stone-ground corn dippers (like Fritos only less salty) flavored with toasted ground cumin and smokey New Mexico chile powder. The filling consisted of a bottom layer of cheesecake batter flavored with plenty of good dry-smoked salmon with some chipotle pepper adobo sauce mixed in, and a top layer of batter with the Vermon White Cheddar. I made a drizzle sauce of creme freche and adobo sauce to disguise some very minimal cracks. Easiest to cut chilled, then plate and let come to room temp for best flavor enjoyment. Seve with a good California Brut sparkling wine.
LEAH	2010-12-21 06:39 AM
The raspberries were only to cover the cracks. But this was essentially the Mercedes of cheesecakes - big and obnoxious.
COMMENT 129425	2010-12-21 10:52 AM
One more row of raspberries and it could be a big PEACE sign!! It looks beautiful though, and sounds even better. I may attempt one over the holidays. You AND the Seedlady can come over anytime with those yummy things you bake. It's such an art.

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