Week 5, September 19, 2010: Cheesecake

Oh my GOODNESS! Cheesecake always makes my top three in desserts.  It's so versatile and it contains my absolutely favorite thing on earth: cheese.  I've made at least a dozen of them over time--a chocolate cherry one a P's request one holiday, gluten and sugar-free pumpkin last October that was incredible, to name a couple.  There are normally minor issues every go: they crack, the crust tastes burnt, they're a little to eggy.  I've had several that have been perfectly delicious, just really ugly. The first go around with cheesecake for this project absolutely took the cake (I know, I know) for anything that could have gone wrong.

I didn't write out my rules well at the beginning, but there are two main points: 1, I have to make the whole cake from scratch and 2, I have a week to "pass" the cake.  I get a buy on rule 2, because I didn't hear about Nel's request until after I'd attempted the first cheesecake.  This stated, I'll give you a brief recap of what went down.

For the crust, I made ginger snap cookies (recipe from joyofbaking.com).  I didn't make them small enough and forgot to flatten them, so a handful came out charred on the bottom and doughy in the middle.  I took the decent ones and ground them per the crust instructions for Cheesecake, again, from joyofbaking.com.  They said to use graham crackers, but I wanted a little spice.  My first mistake was in not modifying the amount of butter called for.  The crust was wet when I patted it into the spring form.  Mistake number 2 got most of the neighborhood talking: I neglected to put a pan underneath the cheesecake.  It dripped and smoked and smoked and smoked.  The windows of the house were open from 9:30 to nearly midnight.  The cheesecake still cracked and tasted like a mixture of the bottom of the oven and the bottom of an ashtray, but the texture was right on.

Smoke flowing through the kitchen and dining room

Note the bottom of the oven at this point-- someone should have put the pan under the cheesecake an hour before!

It met Senor Basura (Mr. Garbage).  The neighbors were alarmed a second time when I had the oven self clean: smoke billowed out of the house all Saturday afternoon.  These people must think I'm nuts.

Round two didn't start much better.  The ginger snaps and I still aren't friends.  They're the right size, but of four trays only one came out right.  The burnt ones are destined for the faction of my family that loves semi-burnt cookies, popcorn and hot dogs.  The doughy ones already met the garbage and the just right ones are going to meet a baggie and the rolling pin--it's so much more cathartic than the food processor.

The cake wasn't difficult, again and the cheesecake made it through baking without cracking.  The pan underneath caught everything, woo!  The problem came with the topping: the sour cream topping mixed and slid on silkily, but less than five minutes back in the oven and there were cracks.

note the clean oven- and butter filled drip pan--smoke free cheesecake!
Despite a little cracking, the cheesecake was perfect.  I made a little blueberry sauce with a pound of frozen wild blueberries, 2/3 a cup of sugar and a tablespoon of flour- simmered until thickened.  I had my father over for breakfast and he approved.  The spicy gingersnaps made for a nice crust, but it didn't release from the pan as easily as I would have liked.  The sweet blueberries were a perfect addition to the creamy cheesecake.  I'm calling it a pass.
Notes for next time: 1, drip pan. 2, figure out cracking. 3, less butter in the crust. 4, waste less gingersnaps.