I feel like no recipe collection is complete without a cheesecake recipe. This is a diversion from the classic New York style - still heavy on the proportion of cream cheese to egg, it adds sour cream to lighten things up a bit, and a lovely citrus flavour to both the filling and topping to help the flavour of the cheese and berries hit the tongue every so pleasantly.
Ingredients
For the Crust
6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 tbsp granulated sugar
Sprinkle of kosher salt
For the Filling
4 8oz containers of cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups sour cream
6 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp finely grated lemon zest
1 tbsp finely grated orange zest
2 tbsp lemon juice (approx 1 lemon)
For the Topping
1.5 cups blueberries
2 tbsp sugar
1 tablespoon orange juice
2 tbsp corn starch
1 teaspoon orange zest
Sprinkle of kosher salt
Special Equipment
9” spring form pan
Large pan to fill with water.
Directions
Preheat oven to 325°F. Combine the ingredients for the crust in a bowl, mix with your hand until well combined.
Grease the inside of the spring form pan with butter, and evenly pack down the graham cracker crumb mixture. Bake for 15 minutes.
While the crust is baking, start on the filling. Combine the cream cheese and sugar, either with an egg beater or your stand mixer. You’re aiming for a whipped consistency, I find it’s easiest to do this by adding 8 ox of cream cheese at a time.
Once the sugar and cream cheese are combined, add the sour cream and eggs. Combine once again, and after the batter is consistent, add the vanilla, lemon zest, orange zest and lemon juice. Stir to combine. It’s okay to have small lumps of cream cheese.
Prepare the water bath to cook the cake in: Boil water in a kettle (enough to fill half way up the height of your spring form pan. Cover the bottom of the spring form pan in foil to prevent water leaking in an making the crust soggy. Put the spring form pan in the larger pan, fill with the hot water to half way up the spring form pan.
Pour the filling batter into the spring form pan, you can tap the pan a few times to level it. Bake for 1.5 hours in the oven. The outside of the cake will be set when it is done, but the center will still be jiggly.
While the cake bakes, make the topping. Combine blueberries, sugar, orange juice and corn starch in a sauce pan. Heat on medium until simmering, then stir until the cornstarch causes thickening. Add orange zest and salt to taste. Refrigerate.
Remove the cake from the oven, and put it (still in the spring form pan), into the fridge overnight or until set. Once set, remove from the pan, and top with filling.