I got this recipe from my one of my very good friends Divina when I lived in Dubai around twenty years ago. I had already heard how great it was from others and so was super chuffed when one day she appeared at my house cheesecake in hand! What a gorgeous girl and what a gift to give for life, the recipe for this beauty. Thank you my beautiful friend! The only changes I made to the recipe is I bake it for 40 – 50 minutes and she baked it for 20. I used to bake it for 20 minutes in the beginning but started cooking it longer over the years!
I have tried many cheesecake recipes and can tell you hand on heart that for me this is the best. I know someone (my ex-mum-in-law) who was staying with us and could not resist going back for more during the night and there was not a crumb left by the morning when I opened the fridge! Any cheesecake haters should be offered this and they will be converted. My mum said she hated cheesecake and did a complete u-turn! It is just perfectly sweet, tangy and well balanced. You can eat tons of it and not feel heavy somehow!
What is a New York Cheesecake?
New York cheesecakes have much more cream cheese in the filling. Other cheesecakes use a higher quantity of cream or sour cream. The cream cheese gives it that nice tang and great flavour and texture.
How to get the crust crunchy?
I started baking the crust for ten minutes before adding the filling. This keeps the base crunchy for much longer. I really like the contrast in the crunchy base and the smooth cheesecake filling. There is a huge difference if you don’t bake it. I just did it from the first time I made this and have been doing it ever since as it is so good. The base should stay crunchy for two to three days when you do this. It never lasts that long anyway!
Does it need a waterbath?
No water bath needed. Makes life much simpler!
How to make a lump free cheesecake filling?
Just make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature before you begin. Leave your cream cheese out along with the eggs and dairy. Also you want room temperature butter for making the crust not cold butter.
What Cream can I use for this cheesecake?
It does come out great with Nestle cream, and I always have a few tins in my pantry just for this recipe. But I have had success with this recipe substituting it with either sour cream or heavy cream. So feel free to do so, just make sure your cream is thick. A tin is 170 g so I just substitute with 170ml of cream of sour cream if necessary.
Any variations on this cheesecake?
If you serve it plain this will be a New York Cheesecake. For variations, you can serve it with chocolate powder/chocolate shavings on top, raspberries and blueberries, chocolate shavings and strawberries, you can add lemon extract to the filling for a lemon cheesecake and decorate the top with fruits. Use a passionfruit coulis on top to make a passionfruit cheesecake.
New York Cheesecake
Equipment
- springform tin 20-22 cm
Ingredients
Crust
- 14 digestive biscuits
- 4 tbsp butter
- 4 tbsp sugar
Cheesecake Filling
- 2 Eggs large
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 600 ml creamcheese
- 170 ml heavy cream or tin of nestle cream or sour cream
- 3/4 cup sugar plain white fine sugar
Instructions
- Crust
- Preheat oven to 180C or 356F
- In a food processor bowl add hand broken biscuits, sugar and room temperature butter. Do not make into a powder, pulse till it forms a rubble.
- Line a springform pan with parchment paper, brush with butter all around the tin and then stick the parchment paper on the base so it sticks to the butter.
- Tumble the crushed biscuit rubble mixture into the springform tin and press down with your finger, use the back of a glass to smooth it out.
- Bake the crust for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool.
Cheesecake Filling
- Reduce the oven temperature to 150C or 300F
- Add all cheesecake ingredients into a large bowl and blend together till smooth.
- Pour cheesecake filing mixture over the crust, smooth out with a spatula. Bake for 50 mins.
- Remove from oven and let it cool completely either in the oven with the door open to prevent cracks or on a counter top. Cover the tin tightly with cling film and chill in the fridge overnight or for a minimum of 6 hours.
- Remove from tin and serve cold.
Video
Notes
- For easy removal of cheesecake from tin be sure to grease all around with room temperature butter (unsalted) including the sides and then line the base with parchment paper
- Ensure that your eggs and creamcheese are at room temperature before you begin
- Using a vanilla bean paste instead of vanilla extract gives a really beautiful effect with the black beans showing through.
- Making this with a tin of nestle cream works really well, but it also works with heavy cream or sour cream. Sour cream will give it more of a tang
- If you serve it plain this will be a New York Cheesecake. For variations, you can serve it with chocolate powder and chocolate shavings on top, raspers and blueberries, chocolate shavings and strawberries, you can add lemon extract to the filling for a lemon cheesecake and decorate the top with fruits. Use a passionfruit coulis on top to make a passionfruit cheesecake.
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