Universal Cheesecake

Wotchers!

A recipe for a dish near and dear to my heart this week – cheesecake.

Bonus: it is a recipe with a STORY!

“The best cheesecake in New York is made by a man named Emilio Brasesco, and it is not made for the general public.”

This is the opening line in an article in The New Yorker magazine in 1971 (read the whole article, it’s great), and I figured that being voted the best by The New Yorker Magazine was a pretty impressive endorsement, so I decided to give it a try.

Despite never having been to New York myself,  I’d have to say, fifty years later, that I have to agree.

This recipe was served at the cafeteria in the

Graduate Center of the City University, on West Forty-second Street, to cater to hungry graduate students and their teachers and to the Graduate Center staff.

Like the classic New York Cheesecake, this recipe is cooked in a bain-marie. Unlike the aforementioned recipe, it has no crust and is cooked in an almost unbelievably short time of just 20 minutes. Here is the original recipe:

From “University Cheesecake”, The New Yorker Magazine, March 27, 1971, p34

Apart from cooking in just a fraction of the time of other cheesecakes, it is SO LIGHT – almost-but-not-quite a mousse in texture. Delicately flavoured with lemon, it looks terrifyingly underdone when you take it out of the oven, but it does firm up as it cools.

It is amazing.

I do have one or two issues with the original recipe. For a start, it calls for TWO POUNDS (900g) of cream cheese, which I find a bit alarming. However, not as alarming as the advice that it will serve four to six people.

TWO POUNDS OF CREAM CHEESE!? Not to mention all the other ingredients.

For FOUR TO SIX PEOPLE!?

Additionally, having made the recipe multiple times, I take issue with the comment that it will have “a nice golden brown top”. It doesn’t – it barely takes any colour at all. Baking for just twenty minutes brings the mixture to the point of setting (once cooled) and no further, and so it remains as blissfully pale as a Victorian debutante having an attack of the vapours.

These criticisms aside, one of the positives of this recipe is that it is a turn-out cheesecake i.e. you flip it out of the tin and onto a plate to serve, so there’s no fretting about it burning (it won’t) or cracking (it won’t), because it’s all hidden on the bottom.

Now here’s where I might cause a few pearls to be clutched. Brace yourselves:

“Lemon is, in my opinion, the only proper flavour for a cheesecake.”

Me, just now.

I’ll tell you why: It takes the tang of the cheese and elevates it with a complimentary sharpness; the sourness of the curd is transformed. The small quantity of vanilla used here is not overpowering and merely rounds out the overall flavour and richness.

Variations on serving the cheesecake

I genuinely believe that this is the only cheesecake recipe you need because even though it is absolutely delicious as it is, you can also dress it up with whatever garnishes you like, and still, at the very heart of it, have a perfect cheesecake. Add the crunch by serving biscuits or shortbread alongside. Or make it super crunchy with a neat pile of granola rubble. Add more flavour by drizzling over sauces such as chocolate, caramel, or thickened fruit purees. In the photo above I have warmed a little mango curd to pour over for both colour and flavour and, get this, I didn’t even make it myself! Yes, I bought some fruit curd (from Aldi, it was very delicious. Can also recommend the passion fruit one. Caveat: it might have been a special offer, as opposed to a regular item), which makes dressing up this cheesecake even more of a doddle.  Obviously fresh fruit and berries are just as quick and easy to do…. whatever takes your fancy.

This is why I have taken the liberty of changing the name slightly from University Cheesecake to Universal Cheesecake. It’s incredibly delicious. It’s amazingly light. It’s very quick to make. It’s infinitely customisable.

Confession time: One of the first trial bakes didn’t go so well, and it set, but only just and only really round the edges – the center was very soft indeed. So rather than discard it, I whisked it all together to even out the consistency and then stirred in some granola rubble. I don’t know what you’d call it – a parfait maybe? – but it was so delicious! See? Even when it goes wrong, it is SO right!

Universal Cheesecake

I took the executive decision to reduce quantities to one third of the original, because who needs two kilos of cheesecake at a time? Feel free to go with the original vast quantities though. These amounts serve 6-8. Or just one person if you really put your mind to it.

40g unsalted butter
300g cream cheese – room temperature
100g caster sugar
2 large eggs
60ml lemon juice (from 2 lemons)
40g cornflour
200ml chilled double cream
½ tsp vanilla extract

• Cut the butter into cubes and put into hand-temperature water for five minutes to soften. When ready, it will barely hold its shape. You need it to be this soft in order to mix in thoroughly. On one of the trials I tried with just room-temperature butter, and it left lumps and consequently, pools of butter in the baked cheesecake. Yuk.
• Set a deep tin for the bain marie in the oven and fill to a depth of 5cm with water. If you want to double check the depth against the tin you’ll be using for the cheesecake, weigh the cheesecake tin down with a tin of something to simulate a filled tin, otherwise it’s just going to float.
• Prepare the tin for your cheesecake. I used a tin measuring 15cm by 25cm and lined it with baking parchment. You could also use a square or round tin of about 18cm. I also made a ‘sling’ of folded tin foil around the outside of the tin, to make it easier to lift out of the bain marie.
• Turn the oven on to 150ºC, 130°C Fan. The oven and water will be at temperature by the time the leisurely mixing is done.
• Now for the mixing. The original recipe said this should take about 15 minutes so slow and easy wins the game. Put the cream cheese into a bowl and use a mixer on slow speed to beat it smooth. I used my stand mixer and the paddle attachment to begin with.
• Add the drained, softened butter and mix thoroughly.
• Mix the cornflour and the lemon juice together until smooth, then add to the mixture.
• Switch to the whisk attachment if applicable, and add the eggs. From hereon in we’re trying to get as much air into the mixture as possible.
• Finally, add the double cream and vanilla extract. Increase the speed and whisk until the cream has frothed up and the mixture is at the soft peak stage.
• Pour the mixture into your prepared tin and smooth over lightly.
• Gently place the tin into the bain marie and set the timer for 20 minutes.
• When time is up, lift the cheesecake out and set aside to cool at room temperature for 1 hour.
• After 1 hour, move it to the fridge to chill for a further 2 hours at least. It can go overnight too, no problem.
• Turn out your cheesecake onto a serving plate. If it looks too soft, allow it to firm up in the fridge, uncovered, for a few hours.
• To Serve,
  • Garnish in restrained or exuberant manner. As already mentioned, there are many options, depending on personal taste.
  • Add crunch with: biscuits, whole or in crumbs, such as digestives, shortbread, Lotus, tuiles, wafers, home-made or shop bought.
  • Add fruit in the form of fresh berries, purees, sauces, compotes.
  • Fruit curds are also an easy addition.
  • Chocolate and caramel sauces are also good, if not too sweet.
  • Try serving sauces warm – the contrast against the creamy, cold cheesecake is delicious.