When I write out directions, I do so in my own way, clarifying procedures and such. The literary expression, while containing the same information, is not lifted in whole from the original source. Additionally the sources are cited as well as I can and represent very small exerpts from those source and so would fall under fair use exemptions were the above step not taken. Further note that I do not claim these as my own recipes (being an academic tends to cure you of such plagaristic nonsense). That being said, enjoy the cakes.
Well ** Dancer Flight** if you publish a book of recipes where you have merely changed the method but have lifted ingredient lists and quantities holus bolus, let me know how you get on. Being a writer who has worked on cookbooks and published articles on cooking has cured me of plagiaristic nonsense and of any romantic idea that merely changing the method makes the recipe my own.
Sorry for the hijack ** plump buck mulligan**. Great user name BTW.
I regret to inform you all that you’re all entirely wrong about the best damn cheesecake in the world.
Pick up a copy of The Cake Bible, by Rose “Insanity Rose” Levy Beranbaum, and look for her Cordon Rose Cheesecake recipe.
It’s very fussy (thus her nickname), but as far as I remember, there are no complicated steps in it–just a lot of steps. Make sure you make the cheesecake a day ahead of time. And make sure you don’t skip steps in the process until you know what you’re doing.
If you follow her directions carefully, you’ll end up with a luscious, rich, flavorful, perfectly smooth cheesecake which will be one of the best things you’ve ever put in your mouth. It is to die for, it’s so good. I have never had any other cheesecake which approaches this one in quality.
OMG yes. But anything from that book is to die for. Curse you, Daniel, I had managed to put that recipe out of my mind for a few years and now I will have to make it again to see if it is as good as I remember.
I think her books are good for novices as well as expert cooks because the details in the recipes are so freaking detailed. You know why you are doing each step and as long as you don’t feel intimidated and just do as you are told, you’ll get a fabulous result.
Curse me? Ah well–I guess I’ll have to console myself with the blessings of your friends and family, then :D.
The one thing I wish she had in her cookbooks was a “T minus” section next to each instruction in the cookbook. Too often I’ve started a recipe some four or so hours before I need to serve it, thinking that’ll be plenty of time, only to come to an instruction midway through the seventh paragraph that reads simply, “Refrigerate six hours or overnight.” If she told me at the beginning that I’d need to make the recipe a day ahead of time, it’d be a huge help.
I’m glad it turned out for you! The mystic surrounding the making of cheesecake is merely to make those of us brave enough to attempt them, look like heros!
Now, you’ve been inducted into the secret cheesecake society. You must NEVER tell anyone how easy it was! If you do, you’re cheesecake privileges will be instantly revoked.
Oh yes, picunurse it was so easy it felt almost dirty. I talked to about five people on the phone in the course of preparing it. “Are you busy?” “Nah, well, I’m just making a cheesecake.” “OMG! I’ll let you go, I don’t want you to ruin it!!” “Huh? I’m just cracking eggs and putting them into a bowl.”
Really, the hardest part for me was getting the cream cheese out of its package. Dancer_Flight, that triple chocolate looks unspeakably rich and good. I MUST make it, even though double boilers and I don’t usually mingle with the greatest of ease.
Left Hand, trusty Google has led me to a recipe [which seems to have been transcribed by a viewer, as it doesn’t seem fussy at all] for the Cordon Rose Cheesecake. Unfortunately, it all seems to be in that Crazy Foreigner Measurement System. Or at least, parts of it are. I’ll have to consult cream cheese box to find out how much 500 g would be, and I’m assuming that 20cm is just about a 9" pan? I have a 9.75 incher, too.
Oh, and just discovered a great sounding recipe on the back of my chocolage graham crackers box for something called Grasshopper Pie, which seems to be just a cheesecake with creme de menthe baked in a chocolate graham crust, with choc shavings atop. Looks really simple and tasty, and I’m all for mixing desserts with liquor [Mom makes a pumpkin chiffon cheesecake with a cream-cognac topping, but it may be out of my league just yet].
Hooray! Recipes everywhere I look! I look forward to sending my immediate family and friends into a downward spiral of cheesecakes, decadence and obesity.
You want cheesecake recipes? Check out Flora’s Recipe Hideout. She’s got a hundred or so of them. I usually tweak them a bit to suit my preferences, but they’re all wonderful. The following is a variant of her Cinnamon-Apple Cheesecake. I took one to work and was told that “this is [smack, smack] the best [gulp, chomp] cheesecake [lick, slurp, smack] EVER!”
For the crust, use vanilla wafer crumbs and melted butter or margarine. Mix them together till the crumbs hold together without being excessively wet, then press them into the bottom of your pan. Bake at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes, until golden brown and set aside to cool.
For the filling, cream together three packages of room-temp cream cheese or neufchatel (I always use neufchatel) and 3/4 cup of sugar. Make sure you scrape down the sides of the bowl several times so everyting blends evenly. Mix in 3 eggs and 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla. Again, scrape the bowl several times so it all mixes evenly. Pour over baked crust. Core and peel 2-3 medium/large apples (I prefer Granny Smiths) and slice them thinly. Arrange slices in overlapping layers on top of cheesecake. Mix ~ 1/3 cup sugar and cinnamon to taste, and heavily sprinkle apples. Bake at 400 for 35 minutes, until apples are tender and cheesecake is set. Cool, then chill.
Garnish with caramel sauce (bottled, or a handful of melted caramels with a dash of water) and crushed Rollos. Sinful. Absolutely sinful.
Interesting! Several months ago I googled the Cordon Rose recipe and couldn’t find it; must’ve been before February 20. Since it’s already online, I’ll pull the cookbook off the shelf and offer some notes on the recipe:
500 g cream cheese=1 pound (Rose calls for 454 grams, or 1 lb.)
Rose calls for 1 tablespoon cornstarch, beaten in with the cream cheese and sugar in the beginning. This is optional, and will give the cheesecake a slightly gummier texture, but will make it easier to cut. You can also omit the cornstarch and replace the 3 eggs with 6 egg yolks.
Fussy? See below:
3a) Have all ingredients at room temperature. This is important!
3b) Beat the cream cheese and sugar together for three full minutes, in order to get it supersmooth and fluffy.
3c) when you’re adding the eggs, keep scraping down the sides of the bowl. If you don’t, then your supersmooth cheesecake will have lumps of cream cheese in it: no good!
3d) When you add sour cream, just beat it in until it’s incorporated.
3e) The pan should be 8" if you can get it. When you line it with aluminum foil, it’s very important to make sure the foil goes up to close to the pan’s rim on both sides. This is because:
3f) when you put it in the water bath, you want to make certain that water doesn’t seep into the pan.
3g) You should also grease the pan, and then cut a circle of wax paper to fit the bottom of the pan and line the bottom of the pan with that circle; it makes it far easier to remove the finished cake.
3h) After it’s cooled 1 hour at room temperature, wrap in Saran wrap and stick it in the fridge overnight.
3i) To unmold it, cover a flat plate with saran wrap. Put the pan on a hot burner and move it around for 10 or 15 seconds, to melt the underside of the cake. Take a towel, drench it in hot water, and wring it out; run this towel around the sides of the pan. Take a metal cake spatula and run it around the inside of the pan. Only then should you release the springform pan. Put the saran-wrapped plate on top of the cake; turn the cake upside down. Remove the bottom of the pan and the wax paper. Put the cheesecake’s serving plate upside down on top of the cheesecake (so it’s sandwiched between the serving plate and the saran wrap plate), and gently turn it right-side-up.
Toldja it was fussy!
Note that there’s no crust for the cheesecake as described. It’s delicious that way, or you can add a crust. You can make a simple graham cracker crust by food-processing a bunch of graham crackers and adding about half a stick of melted butter and a cup or so of sugar, or to taste. I’m sure you can find a recipe for such a crust. You can do something similar with other cookies.
No-bake cheesecakes are definitely a matter of taste; personally, I can’t stand their gelatinous texture. Rose’s cheesecake, by virtue of having no thickeners (if you omit the corn starch) is completely non-gelatinous, is like eating the world’s richest cream cheese custard. She also points out in her cookbook that the water bath keeps the texture even throughout the cake, whereas many other recipes result in a cake that’s very dry near the edges.
