Practice makes perfect cheesecake
I love cheesecake. I think that is fairly obvious. And most places that offer cheesecake desserts of course charge quite a steep price for it. So I vowed to learn how to make the perfect cheesecake and then I would not have to go out each time I get a craving for this luscious dessert. None of that no-bake types that I used to make back in high school.
I searched the internet for a recipe for a simple baked cheesecake. There are thousands out there! There was plain, chocolate, caramel, fruit. There are recipes that use cream cheese (classic), ricotta, and some even use cheese you could not imagine being in a dessert. It took me several tries before I was able to produce something remotely edible but my perseverance paid off.
The first one I tried was a recipe for Dulce De Leche cheesecake. I must have been crazy to try something as challenging as a dessert that calls for cooking condensed milk for hours but the recipe called out to me and I couldn’t resist. And I failed miserably that first try. My cheesecake was overcooked but remained gooey and soft inside. It had cracks all over and was too sweet even for me. Sigh.
My second attempt produced better results. This time, I used Lori’s recipe for a plain cheesecake. It tasted great too, I could tell as it did not last the too long once my kids and my friends got a taste of it.
Confident of my abilities to create a plain cheesecake, I ventured again into the challenge of making a flavored cheesecake.. a chocolate flavored cheesecake. I know its good, my friends tell me its good, so I am happy to share my success at making one of my favorite desserts.
Ingredients:
Crust
1 cup of crushed chocolate flavored graham crackers
1 stick of butter, melted
Filling
24 oz. cream cheese
1 tbsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp all purpose flour
3 large eggs
1 can (325 ml) condensed milk
12 oz. semisweet chocolate
500 ml whipping cream
1 tbsp lemon juice
Procedures:
First, melt together cream and chocolate in a double broiler. Set aside to cool. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly grease the bottom and sides of a 9-inch spring-form pan. Combine the crushed grahams with the melted butter and press firmly on bottom of 9-inch springform pan. The crumbs should stick together to form a solid base. If it doesn’t then you need to mix in more butter.
With an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and vanilla extract until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in condensed milk until smooth. Add in the flour and mix until well blended. Put in eggs one at a time. Follow with the melted chocolate and lemon juice and mix at low speed until all ingredients have blended together. Pour batter in prepared pan and bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes.
After baking, let cool overnight. Best when chilled or frozen.
yoi, sarap tignan!
wow. i so like cheesecakes. and it looks good.
neverlander – hehe. masarap din kainin. try it out!
Laffangera – If you happen to try it let me know how it turns out. Cheers!
[...] are two types of cake I am trying to become an expert at making, the perfect cheesecake, and the perfect chocolate cake. I am on that journey right now and I must say, I have had more [...]
still interested in a simple plain cheesecake recipe? It’s not at par with cheesecake factory (w/c for me is perfection) but it comes close as per Marlon… Let me know so I can email you my recipe.
Marie – Yes yes! I am willing to try different recipes of cheesecake. As I said – practice makes perfect!
[...] that free time, you would think I would have had time to get my hair cut, get a manicure, bake a new dessert, go shopping for new makeup and shoes, buy my friend a gift, get the car its regular maintenance, [...]
[...] actually is perfect timing for me since some people have started asking me again about a particular cheesecake that I had let them try once a few months ago. So to keep from breaking my promise about recipe [...]
hello ms apples!i just want to ask if it is ok to ommit the chocolate on this?i just want to have a plain cheesecake which will be topped with blueberries. i’m looking for a good bluberry cheesecake recipe. can u recommend one?thanks so much
farrah – Definitely! You can ommit the chocolate and cream and just make the plain cheesecake which will turn out very creamy and perfect for a blueberry topping. What you will have is a cheesecake similar to the third picture above. Also you might want to change the crust from chocolate grahams to plain crushed grahams.
hello again ms. apples!i just want to clarify, do i need to ommit even the whipping cream, and not just the chocolate for a plain cheesecake?so that leaves me with just the condensed milk,eggs,cream cheese right?can i add the cream for my plain cheesecake?thanks so much again!
farah – If you want to omit the cream entirely, try this recipe instead because it uses just 2 pkgs of cream cheese and you can totally omit the caramel without doing any adjustments.
Recipe -> http://tighturl.com/e93