Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Seattle Cheesecake recipe

Thanks to one of my colleagues, here's the cheesecake recipe I'm going to try to bake this evening. I've converted the units to metric, scaled the quantities, and added ingredients for a British-style base and an apricot topping.

Start by greasing a 20 cm spring-form tin and lining the base with a round of greaseproof paper. Pre-heat the oven to 160 °C.

Biscuit base

  • 12 digestive biscuits
  • 60 g unsalted butter

Crush the biscuits to the consistency of fine breadcrumbs. Melt butter and mix into crushed biscuits. Gently press mixture into bottom of tin using the back of a spoon to form a level base. Bake for 10-15 minutes until lightly browned and just set. Set aside for at least 5 minutes.

Bottom layer

  • 625 g cream cheese (not reduced fat, premium brand strongly recommended)
  • 140 g caster sugar
  • 3 large eggs
  • 15 ml/1 tbsp vanilla essence

Mix all the ingredients together thoroughly, and pour onto the base. Bake in the oven for about an hour. Time needed depends on atmospheric conditions, but when done the top will start to crack. When done, remove from oven and cool on a cooling rack for 30 minutes. (The cooling rack is important, as you need to get airflow underneath the cake).

Top layer

  • 330 ml sour cream
  • 30 g caster sugar
  • 15 ml/1 tbsp vanilla essence

Turn up the oven to 220 °C. Once the bottom layer is cool, mix the top layer ingredients together, and pour on top. Then return to the oven for a further 10 minutes.

Topping

  • 1/2 jar apricot preserve
  • 3-4 fresh apricots

Slice apricots. Heat jam in microwave for about 45 seconds, until runny, and spread over top of cheesecake. Arrange apricots on top.

I'll update this post later with the results!

Update: This worked out really well! The only slight problem was that the tin didn't come away from the sides totally cleanly, but the cake still looked excellent and tasted delicious!