Cheesecake! 7/29/10-7/30/10

Yesterday was my friend Alex's birthday, and because I didn't come up with a gift idea, I decided I would instead combine his birthday with National Cheesecake Day and bake him a cheesecake. Emailing back and forth with Holly and Tara, I decided to try out this recipe from smittenkitchen for new york cheesecake. Although I had no springform pan, 0 of the $14 worth of cream cheese, and no experience making cheesecake, generosity from Holly, a quick trip to Safeway, and overconfidence from having seen my sisters do it allowed me to forge ahead alone.

The crust went well as my blender turned graham crackers to dust, and I patted all of the bits into the pan.

The filling was relatively easy to put together as well since there are so few ingredients. I ended up using the zest from a lemon on a tree outside and a lime that's been sitting on our table for awhile now. Although the recipe called for lemon and orange, I ended up liking the kick that the lime gave. I didn't think it would make a big difference, but having tasted it, I think I'll be slightly disappointed with any plain cheesecake I ever have again.

Although the ingredient list was easy, this cheesecake is my first solo encounter with the electric mixer. Although less of a workout than by hand, it can easily get out of control, as I learned. In preparation, equip yourself with a large bowl, not a small one like mine that ultimately only barely fit all of the filling.

With mostly just the cream cheese at the beginning, it was a fight. I also learned not to lift the mixer too far out of the bowl while it's still going. What was intended to be some extra movement to blend various parts of the filling resulted instead in splatter. There was filling on my hand. There was filling on my foot. There was filling on my shirt. There was filling on the wall.

Lesson learned.

Mixing was tough going until I got the eggs in. I think the liquid helped some, but I realized later that aeration is a big part of the electric blender as well as it increased in volume significantly. I was, however, quite proud of my work with the eggs. I saw the 2 egg yolks in the recipe and figured that I could do it after having seen my sisters do it. When it came time, however, I panicked. I quickly found instructions online, and it worked perfectly.

The filling fit into the pan nicely. The recipe claims that the cheesecake should flow over the edge of the crust, so perhaps I should have blended further, but with the filling so high in my mixing bowl, I didn't want to risk it.

Baking could've gone better. I got distracted with cleaning up during the 12 minute blast at the beginning, and when I looked right at 12 minutes, the top had already browned, and the crust had burned. Although I blame my oven thermometer, I should've been paying more attention, so keep that in mind. I had a very hard time determining when it was done as the texture on the top of the cheesecake didn't reflect my experience with eating cheesecake at all. As the recipe says, however, it was firm (sprung back) around the edges and a little wobbly on the inside, so I let it cool. I picked away the worst of the crust around the top, though I learned upon serving that the damage was quite deep.

The ugliness of the top was perfectly covered by delicious compote that Tara made, completing the cheesecake for a much nicer presentation, other than the outside crust.

I thought the filling went quite well. The zest worked, and the consistency seemed right. This particular cheesecake was very rich, which is certainly not a bad thing, though slices of it are best if very small.

The crust should've gone much better. First, it shouldn't have gotten burned, so if something is baking at 550, I'll probably pay more attention. Second, I think the sides were somewhat dense anyways. When I was packing the pan, I remember compacting the corner quite a bit, and that part of the crust was like a rock when I bit into it. The crust along the bottom worked well, though, so I think I just needed to pack better along the upper sides.

Overall, I think it went well enough for a first run. I should be better if I try again, though I think cheesecake is only fitting for special occasions. The electric mixer is now in my repertoire, so perhaps more cake-making is in my future.