New York Style Cheesecake

Cheesecake is one of my husband's favourite desserts. Not being a huge dessert fan he doesn't get homemade cheesecake very often. Occasionally he gets my quick no bake cheesecake that while quite good it definitely is not New York Style cheesecake like The Cheesecake Factory sells. I've been on a quest to get that rich, creamy flavour of New York Style cheesecake.

Crust Prep

Traditionally baked cheesecake is made in a spring pan. Well the problem is I have 2 large spring pans but not a small one so I improvised using a 2-piece flan pan (top right). It was wider in diameter but shallower. The prepared crumbs were poured into the pan (top left) then formed using the bottom of a stainless steel measuring cup (bottom right) resulting in the prepared crust (bottom left).

New York Style Cheesecake

1¼c graham cracker crumbs
2 tbsp granulated sugar
3 tbsp butter

19 oz cream cheese, softened
1 c granulated sugar
1 tsp lemon zest
¼ tsp pure vanilla
3 eggs

Mix graham cracker crumbs with 2 tbsp granulated sugar. Melt butter then stir well into the graham cracker crumb mixture. Pour into baking paan and form into crust. Bake at 350ºF for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.

Reduce oven temperature to 300ºF. Beat cream cheese until uniform using stand mixer. Slowly add in sugar while continuing to beat. Beat until fluffy then add one egg at a time beating until smooth. Mix in vanilla and lemon zest. Pour into prepared crust. Bake for 1 hr or until centre is set. Remove from oven. Cool then refrigerate 3 hours before cutting.

New York Style Cheesecake

New York style cheesecake surprisingly does not have a high sugar content. It is rich and creamy but not all that sweet. A lot of the sweetness comes from what you top the cheesecake with. I topped the cheesecake slices with low sugar chocolate raspberry sauce that added a deep depth to the overall richness. Next time I will warm the sauce then do that really neat swizzle effect over the cheesecake slices but for this one, the taste test was most important. I'm still tweaking cheesecake recipes so the recipe is a combination of a few recipes with my own ideas tossed in. The texture is right up there so that's encouraging. The end result was a nicely flavoured and textured cheesecake.