Recipe Sunflower´s Cheesecake

karadekoolaid

karadekoolaid

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This is called Sunflower´s Cheesecake because Sunflower (a poster on the BBC Food website, since disbanded) gave it to me. It´s exquisite.
Ingredients:
For the base:
160-170 gms Marie or Digestive biscuits
50 gms unsalted butter
For the cheesecake:
350 gms cream cheese
125 gms caster sugar
125 gms full fat greek yoghurt
2 large eggs+ 1 yolk
2-3 tbsps lemon juice
Zest of one lemon
For the topping:
about half a jar of strawberry (or whatever flavour takes your fancy) jam, or crushed berries, mixed with a little cornflour/cornstarch, to thicken
* You will need a 9" /22 cm baking tin for this
Method:
  • Blitz the biscuits and butter in a food processor until they are completely mixed together
  • Line the bottom of the baking tin with the biscuit mixture, pressing down evenly
  • Blend together the cream cheese and sugar, then add the yoghurt, eggs, zest and lemon juice. Use a spatula to mix all the ingredients together thoroughly.
  • Pour the cheesecake mixture into the baking tin and cover with foil.
  • Bake at 275º F for 40 minutes.
  • Remove the foil and bake for 25 minutes more.
  • Turn the oven off and leave the cheesecake for another 25-30 minutes.
  • Remove from the oven and pour the topping over. Cool in the fridge before eating.
83404
 
karadekoolaid said:
This is called Sunflower´s Cheesecake because Sunflower (a poster on the BBC Food website, since disbanded) gave it to me. It´s exquisite.
Ingredients:
For the base:
160-170 gms Marie or Digestive biscuits
50 gms unsalted butter
For the cheesecake:
350 gms cream cheese
125 gms caster sugar
125 gms full fat greek yoghurt
2 large eggs+ 1 yolk
2-3 tbsps lemon juice
Zest of one lemon
For the topping:
about half a jar of strawberry (or whatever flavour takes your fancy) jam, or crushed berries, mixed with a little cornflour/cornstarch, to thicken
* You will need a 9" /22 cm baking tin for this
Method:
  • Blitz the biscuits and butter in a food processor until they are completely mixed together
  • Line the bottom of the baking tin with the biscuit mixture, pressing down evenly
  • Blend together the cream cheese and sugar, then add the yoghurt, eggs, zest and lemon juice. Use a spatula to mix all the ingredients together thoroughly.
  • Pour the cheesecake mixture into the baking tin and cover with foil.
  • Bake at 275º F for 40 minutes.
  • Remove the foil and bake for 25 minutes more.
  • Turn the oven off and leave the cheesecake for another 25-30 minutes.
  • Remove from the oven and pour the topping over. Cool in the fridge before eating.
View attachment 83404
Click to expand...
KK did you use a tart pan, looks like it? I've never seen cheese cake covered for baking, interesting.
 
Well as you can tell, I´m not a baker. At all.
I probably used a "springform" pan - a pan where the bottom is a removable disk and all you have to do is push it up to get the cheesecake out.
And I´ve got no idea what effect the foil has, so if someone would care to enlighten me?
I just cooked the thing, and it lasted about 20 minutes.:D:D
 
A springform pan has the clampy bit around the side, along with a removable bottom, but you generally have to unclamp it to remove the bottom.
 
karadekoolaid said:
Well as you can tell, I´m not a baker. At all.
I probably used a "springform" pan - a pan where the bottom is a removable disk and all you have to do is push it up to get the cheesecake out.
And I´ve got no idea what effect the foil has, so if someone would care to enlighten me?
I just cooked the thing, and it lasted about 20 minutes.:D:D
Click to expand...
Yeah, it looks really tasty. Your cheesecake has that angle on the sides, which tells me it was a tart pan. Normally people use a springform pan which releases the sides and also has a separate bottom. In the commercial world nobody covers their cheesecakes when baking. I suspect you didn't use a water bath? This may be the reason the recipe called for the cheesecake to be covered but that's just a guess.

The main problem KK with covering a cheesecake is knowing when it's done. Ideally you want to give your pan a little shake and visually when you see around 70% of the cheesecake set with the 30% (approx) in the middle still undercooked to turn off the oven and the residual heat will finish the cooking and if it's covered in tin foil you can't do that. Once it comes to room temp it's generally covered in plastic wrap and refrigerated overnight before releasing and cutting.

What I do and most pastry chefs, is butter a springform pan, press in the bottom crumb coming up the sides a little bit, fill, then put in a low oven (300) in a water bath and continue to monitor for doneness.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the explanation, GH!:bravo::bravo:
Like I said, I´m no baker and desserts or sweets I cook in the oven tend to work (or not) because I slavishly follow a recipe.
No water bath used in this recipe, as you correctly surmise - but it works.
 
karadekoolaid said:
Thanks for the explanation, GH!:bravo::bravo:
Like I said, I´m no baker and desserts or sweets I cook in the oven tend to work (or not) because I slavishly follow a recipe.
No water bath used in this recipe, as you correctly surmise - but it works.
Click to expand...
No problem KK. I'm no baker or pastry chef either. Saying that, just like cooking savory we try and get a feel for cuisine from repeatedly making the same foods, becoming more familiar, more confident and willing to tweak and experiment with that food. I know you do this just by reading your posts and how you explain things.

With baking it's the same thing, and especially with baking because it's more scientific where small mistakes can make huge differences in the results and we tend to fall back on recipes because of that reason, slavishly, I like that lol. Nothing wrong with that and it's convenient especially if a person does very little with pastry or baking because it's a journey and with pastry is a long journey, so it's a big ask for the most part.

The cheesecake example where covering one of the most important factors in determining the end result of a desirable cheesecake especially considering the time and cost to make one was for me was the first lesson I learned in baking because the vast majority of cheesecakes I've ever ordered were for all intense and purposes just bricks, heavy with a mouthfeel of wall plaster. This forced me to find a filling that appealed to me more which was light and airy and I know by the recipe you followed that it certainly wasn't going to be a brick and cooking uncovered is absolutely required to maintain that texture. Cheers.
 
Great recipe! I love cheesecake and am very excited to make this. I like that you added both lemon zest and juice for that tangy taste!
 
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