Super-Dense Cheesecake

Cafe Society
1

somewhat inspired by this thread:

When I was living in Albuquerque, NM the best cheesecake available was from a place called “Dee’s Cheesecake Factory”, which sadly does not have a website.

It was UNBELIEVABLY dense and tangy. I can’t stress enough how dense this cheesecake is. I’d say that the resistance to cutting is almost like a block of cheddar cheese, though it’s not rubbery at all.

I’ve tried New York style, I’ve tried cheesecakes by famous makers (Eli’s, Cheesecake Factory), I’ve tried German, I’ve sampled cheesecakes whenever the mood suited. While the German-style cheesecake had a flavor that was pretty close, all of these cheesecakes were either much too fluffy, or way too light and moist. Dee’s stuff was dense and therefore heavy.

Has anyone experienced cheesecake like this? Can anyone tell me what makes such cheesecake different? Does anyone have (dare I ask) a recipie for ultra-dense, rich cheesecake?

All other cheesecakes pale by comparison. . .

2

I do.

I am a pretty fair pastry chef, and cheesecakes are a passion of mine (sadly, considering the state I’ve let my waistline get to over the years).

There are a number of ways to get denser cheesecake, and a number of ways to make the cake fluffy.

If you don’t have a lot of baking experience, I’d focus on eggs.

Separating the eggs, adding the yolks in to the batter, beating the whites stiff and then folding them in at the end is a great way to get a lighter, fluffier cake. In contrast, using whole eggs in the mix, or even 2 eggs and 2 egg yolks, is a good way to get a denser cake.

If you’ve not tried ricotta cheese insteda of cream cheese, that’s a fruitful area of inquiry.

Here’s an easy recipie for a smooth, dense, moist cake:

10" springform pan
3 lbs cream cheese at room temp
4 large eggs at room temp
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Prepare standard graham cracker crust and press into pan. Line outside of pan with aluminun foil to keep water from water bath from seeping into crust.

Beat three pounds of cream cheese at room temperature until smooth, gradually adding 1 1/2 cups sugar into mixing bowl. Once smooth, add two whole eggs
and two egg yolks, one at a time, beating until mxed. Add vanilla extract, heavy cream, and sour cream. Mix until smooth. Pour into springform pan.

Place springform pan inside large pan. Fill outer pan with hot water - about halfway up sides of cake pan. Bake at 450 for 10-12 minutes, then crack open oven door and reduce heat to 225. Close door and bake for 55-65 minutes. Center of cake shold still be jiggly, but the edge should be set. Turn off heat and crack open oven door, and allow to cool in cooling oven for 90 minutes. Cake should be set. Remove from oven and cool completely.

You can use the leftover egg whites to make a nice meringue-type garnish!

3

Lovely!

And as I think of it, the “tang” I mentioned was probably from sour cream - it wasn’t lemony at all, but since I see that ingredient mentioned it seems to fit the bill.

The next time I have time - next week perhaps - I’ll try the recipe you kindly included.

Assuming I decide to tinker, what besides the eggs would be logical to play with? The sour-cream/heavy cream ratio? Reduce the cream prior to adding it? What are other important parameters?

I’m a pretty good cook/baker, and am not scared of the kitchen -

Thanks again!

4

And if you are really lazy, you might want to go to your local Trader Joe’s and buy their cheesecake. It is in a pizza box type of container and simply says Cheesecake on the top. Very good, very heavy, and a thin slice will suffice even if you are really hungry!

5

This was my first thought when I saw the thread title. I’ve never made cheesecake, but I’m an accomplished cheesecake eater! I like a cheesecake with texture–one that crumbles just a bit when you cut it with a fork. Ricotta cheesecake is best. I haven’t had it in ages, but there’s a place just down the block that makes it. I wish they were open right now. :frowning:

6

::Raises hand::

Could you use part cream cheese and part ricotta? What ratio would be good? Will the ricotta make it less creamy? I must have creamy! but I want dense too! And is a spring form pan essential?

I had a super-dense chocolate cheese cake at a fancy restaurant once. I nearly passed-out, it was so good. Do you have a recipe for something like that?

(sorry to barge in on your thread, Misery)

7

You can mix cream cheese and riocotta cheese. The key is to cream the cream cheese and sugar together first and then add the ricotta. This step is essential for a couple of reasons: as you cream together the sugar and cream cheese, the sugar crystals cut into the cream cheese and hasten the mixing process; you end up thoroughly mixed without introducing nearly as much air. When you read directions like, “Beat slowly,” or “Cream together,” please realize that this is critical guidance. Beating slowly produces a different result than beating fast or whisking. A KitchenAid mixer on the slowest setting is a wonderful thing for those whose wrists are not up to the challenge.

A springform pan is not essential, but if you want to be able to remove your creation from the pan without disturbing the crust, you’ll need either the springform pan or solid cake pan and parchment paper liner.

Sure. But these can get pricey: the single most important factor in good chocolate cheesecake is the quality of the chocolate. Ordinary baking chocolate will produce an ordinary cake. Nothing to sneeze at, to be sure. But I have had women offer their bodies to me (OK, it was my wife, but still) after a Godiva chocolate cheesecake.

I’ll share the recipe, but you must promise to use the power only for good.

First, the crust. You can use a regular graham-cracker crust, but I have found that a chocolate crust works better, and there’s also the tantilizing Oreo crust.

For the generic chocolate crust, crush about 35-40 chocolate wafer cookies. Add in 3 tablespoons sugar, a 1/4 teaspoon salt, and a stick of melted butter. Press that mixture into the bottom and sides of a prepped 10-inch pan (prep as described in my recipe above).

For the Oreo crust, use a blender to dust about 25-30 Oreo cookies. No need to butter them: the Oreo filling works to keep them crushed Oreos moist and sticky.

Now, the cake:

Preheat oven to 450.

Melt 8 ounces of Godiva bittersweet chocolate in a double boiler. CAREFUL! Working with chocolate is an artform in itself. If you don’t use a double boiler, and try to melt it in an ordinary saucepan, you can easily scorch it. Do NOT add anything liquidy cold to the chocolate as its melting, or you’ll seize it. Gently whisk the chocolate as its melting with a dry whisk, then take it off the heat and let it cool. Do NOT add hot melted chocolate to the batter, or you’ll start the proteins in the eggs coagulating.

Cream two pounds of cream cheese at room temp together with 1 cup of sugar. Add 1/4 cup sour cream, scraping the sides of the mixer with a spatula constantly. Add 5 large eggs at room temperature, one at a time, mixing until smooth. Stir two teaspoons vanilla extract into the melted chocolate, then stir the chocolate into the cream cheese batter and mix slowly until smooth.

Pour into your prepared pan.

Put your pan in a water bath and bake for 8-10 minutes at 450, then reduce heat to 300 and bake for 45-50 minutes. Edge of cake should be set and middle should be Jello-jiggly when it’s done. Turn off heat, open open door, and let cool. Then chill cake overnight in the refrigerator. Briefly dip pan in warm water to melt the butter, and remove side of springform pan (or invert solid pan over sugar-sprinkled plate, then invert again on serving plate).

Garnish: whip 1/2 cup heavy cream and use a pastry bag to decorate; sprinkle with chocolate shavings. You may also use halved Oreo cookies as a garnish.

8

Bricker’s recipe looks sublime; I’ll offer a couple of comments.

First, I dunno how it rates on the densometer, but the Cordon Rose Cheesecake in Rose Levy Beranbaum’s Cake Bible creates the best damn cheesecake I’ve ever eaten. It is absolutely wonderful. I made two for my sister’s wedding, and two for my own; and while the main cake at each wedding had leftovers, these groom’s cakes were polished off.

Second, instead of using a double boiler for melting chocolate, you can use the microwave, IF YOU FOLLOW MY DIRECTIONS.

-Chop chocolate coarsely.
-Place in microwave-safe bowl, and cover.
-Microwave for thirty seconds.
-Take it out and mix it around (after the first thirty seconds it’ll still be very hard–just move the pieces of chocolate around).
-Repeat process until a little over half the chocolate is melted.
-Remove from microwave and stir until it’s all melted.

This is far less of a pain in the butt than using a double-boiler. However, if you slack off and leave it in for a full sixty seconds, you’ll burn your chocolate.

Daniel

9

My concern about this advice is that microwaves vary dramatically.

If you’re going to use a microwave, it should have a rotating tray. Hot spots can develop very quickly in fatty liquids like chocolate.

10

30 seconds is quite a lot for a powerful microwave heating chocolate, I’d be more tempted to do 20s - stir - 10s -stir - 10s -stir repeating 10 second bursts until all the chocolate is uniformly melted. Bit a double boiler isn’t that dissicult to use and is good for cases where you add vanilla sugar or liquor to the chocolate.
Does anyone do a mascapone cheesecake? What other soft cheeses make good cheesecake?

11

Fair point re: microwave strength; mine is a cheapo K-Mart model that I bought six years ago. The rotating tray is its only schmancy feature. Still, I never bother with a double-boiler for melting chocolate; I always use the microwave, and never have any disasters with it.

Daniel

12

I do a superb amaretto rum mascapone cheesecake, but I’m beginning to feel like I’m yapping endlessly about my creations, so I’ll shut up now. :slight_smile:

13

Bricker I am not surprised women are offering their bodies in exchange for your cheesecake. Simply reading your instructions has me feeling all squirmy and warm. Do you let your wife watch you make it? Do you serve it to her personally? No! don’t tell me, my heart can’t take it.

For the chocolate garnish, would you use the same chocolate as used in the cake? And if I made a non-chocolate version what might be a good garnish for that that is similar? Not a fruit topping I mean.

What is this mascapone that Bippy mentions? I’ve gotten it into my head that I’m going to make cheesecakes to give to my family for x-mas gifts. Now I think I need to make three different kinds, and give them a sort of composite cheesecake sampler.

My microwave is about as cheap as they come, and has the revolving tray thing, so I’m inclined to try melting the chocolate that way. Thanks for the tips guys/gals.

Now, where is that Misery? I’m feeling guilty about taking over her thread with all my questions!

14

Don’t you DARE tease, dammit.

Dish out the recipe forthwith, thou!

15

Hear that scribbling? that’s me taking notes! C’mon, this is about cheesecake - as long as people are willing to spill the beans as to how to make this delectable treat, it’s all good! The only rule is that if someone mentions Jell-O brand cheesecake as an example of good cheesecake, I’ll have the thread closed.

16

Mascarpone is an italian variety of cream cheese.

Since the OP likes dense cheesecake, may I suggest using cocoa as the chocolate source? The cocoa absorbs quite a bit of moisture, making the cheesecake much denser and heavier.

The absolute best crust is nabisco famous chocolate wafers. They come in a yellowish box, all lined up in a row. Crunch those up, add liberal butter, and bake for 10 minutes (this also preheats the oven).

Mix 24 oz cream cheese (3 boxes) with 1 cup sugar. As Bricker says, mixing cream cheese and sugar together first is essential to break up the structure of the cheese. And use room temperature cheese (and eggs later) so everything blends more smoothly. And this should be done sloooowly. Now add about 1/3 cup cocoa. Not instant cocoa of course, but plain cocoa. Sloooowly mix it in. The cocoa particles are very fine and they will explode out of the bowl if you mix too fast before the cocoa is incorporated. The more cocoa you add the denser and richer and more intense the cheesecake will turn out. Remember, the ideal is that–like Lembas bread–one bite should fill the stomach of a strong man for a day. But of course, like hobbits, this guideline should be broken at ounce. Now add vanilla or amaretto. The mix will be quite a bit thicker than a usual cheesecake batter at this point. Add the eggs one at time, again mixing very slowly. If you mix fast at this point you’ll incorporate air into the batter. Nice if you want fluffy cheesecake. Not so nice if you want dense cheesecake. Mixing fast before you add the eggs isn’t so bad, since the structure of the cream cheese won’t hold much air. But once you’ve added eggs you can really add lots of air. This will also make your cheesecake puff up in the oven and crack when it cools. Anyway, add 3 eggs one at a time.

Scoop the batter into the crust, it will probably be too thick to pour. I like to carefully arrange whole almonds on top…the batter will be thick enough that they’ll just float on top and get toasted during baking. Now bake at 350 for half an hour. Cocoa cheesecake shouldn’t bake as long as a standard cheesecake, it will set up much faster. Heck, you could just serve the batter raw, no one would complain. Anyway, if it is set after 30 minutes take it out, or let it bake a little while longer.

Cooling slowly helps to avoid cracks on the top. And remember, that all cheesecakes benefit from 24 hours resting in the refrigerator, although they should be brought to room temperature before eating.

Garnish with chocolate shavings. Unlike Bricker, I wouldn’t recommend whipped cream with this, although whipped cream goes with almost anything. The cocao cheesecake is so dense that the whipped cream would just get lost.

The other of my “standard” cheesecake recipies is sweet potato cheesecake. Sweet potatoes make better pumpkin pie than pumpkins. This is pretty much the same recipe, except you use a standard crust, add about 3 baked mashed sweet potatoes instead of the cocoa, leave out the almonds and add pumpkin pie spices to taste (cinammon, cloves and nutmeg usually). This goes well with whipped cream, and a drizzle of caramel sauce.

Another thing. Watch out that you don’t add too much sugar to a cheesecake recipe. A cheesecake should be only lightly sweet. Cheesecake is more about richness and savoryness than sweetness. So if you are adapting a recipe, try making the sugar measurement a bit scant.

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BTW I’m a guy - though who could tell from my username. :wink:

18

If you top a cheesecake with sour cream, do you use store bought sour cream, our use normal cream and sour it with greated lemon zest.
Has anyone experimented with cheesecake using brie, goat’s cheese, or farmer’s cheese (which seems to be an extra thick type of cream cheese),

19

My first reaction to your comment was to gag…but thinking about it, I like all of those cheeses and maybe there is a way to use them in a cheesecake…although it might be kind of hard to get that somewhat bitter Brie rind to fit in with the sugar, but I like your way of thinking.

(But you do the experimenting and get back to us on the results.)

20

Misery So sorry, when seeing your user name I was reminded of that Stephen King book, and thought you were a woman willing to hack bits off of a man to keep him at home.

Now I know better. So, are you going to be making cheesecake soon? And if so, how are YOU doing? ::wink wink::