Creamy New York Cheesecake

Today I want to share another simple recipe that doesn't even call for an electric mixer. This time we'll prepare a New York cheesecake: incredibly creamy cake that will delight you not only with its texture, but also pleasant, lemon and vanilla flavour.

 

Incredibly creamy texture means this cheesecake will simply melt in your mouth. It's pleasantly sweet, and the perfect balance between vanilla and lemon makes it difficult to resist the next slice. Add in the biscuit base and snow white, lightly sweet glaze, and you'll get the perfect cake that is both delicious and beautiful.

You'll find the list of ingredients, method and approximate nutritional value below.

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List of ingredients (26 cm circular baking tin)

Cake base

• 300 g biscuits (eg. digestives)
• 100 g butter

Cheesecake

• 1000 g full fat cream cheese, at room temperature
• 250 g sugar
• 300 g sour cream (18%), at room temperature
• 4 eggs, at room temperature
• 1.5 tsp vanilla paste
• Zest of one lemon
• 30 ml lemon juice
• 35 g cornstarch

Decoration

• 200 g sour cream (18%)
• 20 g (1 tbsp) icing sugar
• 5 ml lemon juice

Method

1. Prepare the biscuit base. Put 300 g biscuits into a large string bag and close it almost completely; leave around 1 cm gap for air to escape. Crush biscuits with a wooden rolling pin. Add 100 g melted, cool butter to crushed biscuits. Distribute butter in biscuits until it is well mixed in and biscuits crumbs resemble wet sand.
2. Transfer biscuit crumbs into a circular baking tin, 26 cm in diameter, lined with baking paper. Distribute biscuits in an even layer and press them down with a glass to create a compact base. If you want, you can prebake the biscuit base for 10 minutes in an oven preheated to 180 deg C (no fan), but I'm skipping this step and I'm simply setting the baking tin aside as I move on to the cheesecake.
3. Transfer 1000 g cream cheese into a large bowl and stir through it shortly with a silicone spatula to loosen it up. It's best to use full fat cream cheese such as Philadelphia, but dedicated cheesecake cheese will work, too, as long as it's thick.
4. Add 250 g fine white sugar to mixed cheese. Do it in three batches, a few tablespoons at a time, and mix each part into cheese with a whisk until smooth. Try not to put too much air into cheese as you are mixing. Otherwise cheesecake may raise during baking, deflate afterwards and lose this pleasant, creamy texture that we want to achieve. It is worth checking from time to time if everything combines as it should with a silicone spatula.
5. Once sugar has dissolved completely, add 300 g thick sour cream (18%) and mix it shortly with a whisk, until evenly distributed.
6. Next, add 4 large eggs to the batter. Do it slowly, one at a time, and stir the batter shortly after each one until fully combined. Again, try to do it carefully so you don't put too much air into the batter. All the ingredients required to make the cheese batter should be at room temperature, so it is worth taking them out of the fridge at least one hour ahead.
7. Next, add 30 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice, grated zest of one lemon, 1.5 tsp vanilla paste and 35 g cornstarch. Combine the ingredients with the batter using a whisk.
8. Pour cheese batter onto the biscuit base, spread it evenly across the whole surface and even out the top. Try to do it as best you can, because large bumps can crack as they bake.
9. Preheat you oven to 180 deg C, no fan. Put a baking tray filled with freshly boiled water into the lowest rack in your oven. Put cheesecake into the middle rack, turn the oven temperature down to 160 deg C and bake the cake for one hour, until top of the cheesecake is almost completely set. It's best to shake the baking tin lightly. If the cake is wobbly like a jelly, it needs a few more minutes; if it only sways lightly, cheesecake is ready. Turn the oven off then, wedge its door ajar and keep the cake in the oven for one hour to cool slightly. Take the cake out of the oven next and put it into a fridge for a night.
10. On the next day, prepare a simple glaze. Put 200 g cold, thick sour cream into a small bowl and add 20 g icing sugar as well as 1 tsp lemon juice. Stir through the ingredients until sugar dissolves and a uniform, semi-fluid glaze forms. Pour glaze on top of cheesecake and spread it evenly across the whole surface. I don't recommend using it to cover cheesecake sides, as it may flow down. Return cheesecake into a fridge for one hour for glaze to thicken up.
11. Enjoy!

Approximate nutritional value 

100 g

• 310 kcal
• Carbs: 26 g
• Fat: 21 g
• Protein: 5 g
• Fibre: 1 g

1 slice (recipe makes 16 slices)

• 433 kcal
• Carbs: 36 g
• Fat: 29 g
• Protein: 7 g
• Fibre: 1 g