Taking the cake
May 12, 2009 by admin
A couple of months ago Marx Foods sent out an email saying they were giving away free samples of spices for people to use and then blog about. I jumped on the opportunity and two days later I had a package of spices delivered to my door step. In the box were samples of:
- Tahitian vanilla beans
- Lavender buds
- Fennel pollen
- Dried hibiscus flowers
- Tellicherry peppercorns
- Grains of paradise
This post features the vanilla bean but there will be future posts (Jason’s soon to be posted shrimp dish) about the spices he generously gave to us. Thanks Justin!
To be honest, I’ve used Tahitian vanilla beans in my cooking before. I was lucky enough to be able to pick some up on our honeymoon in Tahiti two years ago. I loved using them because they seemed to make ordinary desserts extra special. Unfortunately, I ran out before I had the chance to use them in all the applications that I had planned. More specifically, I didn’t get to try my hand at homemade vanilla extract, even though I told Jason I would so many times that he was sick of hearing it. You can imagine my anticipation in using the one I got from Marx Foods.
I got my chance last Sunday when we went over to L and C’s apartment in Long Island City for a birthday brunch held in L’s honor. When C sent me the menu for the shindig one thing was glaringly missing: a cake. What’s a birthday celebration without a dessert!? No, fruit salad does not count.
I asked C if I could bring a dessert as my present and before he could modestly decline, I started doing research into what L would like that incorporated the vanilla bean. I was going to do a strawberry trifle with a vanilla scented custard until C burst my bubble and told me L couldn’t eat whipped cream. How she finds the will to live is beyond me.
I finally decided on a cheesecake recipe that recently made the food blog rounds after it was the Daring Bakers challenge for April. I’ve made plenty of cheesecakes in my day but I always come away less than satisfied and wind up hunting for a different recipe the next time I make one.
Well that stops here and now.* This recipe turned out a fantastic cheesecake that managed to be fluffy and light yet rich and flavorful at the same time. It was a wonderful cross between an Italian style and New York style cheesecake. It was also incredibly smooth thanks to the water bath it baked in. The best part of this recipe is that it is vanilla (pun intended!) and lends itself to “customizing” very well.
In this instance, I stuck with the original recipe but topped the finished cake with a chocolate ganache and fresh strawberries. I already have tons of ideas on how I can change the crust and also incorporate fruits that will be coming out at the farmer’s market soon.
Vanilla Bean Cheesecake
adapted from Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake
Crust
- 2 cups / 180 grams graham crackers or the crumbs
- 1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted
- 2 tbsp / 24 g sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Cheesecake Filling
- 24 oz cream cheese, at room temperature (very important to create a smooth mixture)
- 1 cup / 120 g sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream (I figured it’d be okay for L since it would be heated through thoroughly in the baking process)
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- innards of 1 vanilla bean (could substitute 1 tbsp vanilla extract)
- 1 tbsp liqueur that suits your cheesecake, optional (I omitted this)
Chocolate ganache
- 5 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
Strawberry Topping
- 8-10 strawberries, hulled and thiny sliced
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and bring a large pot of water to a boil for the water bath.
2. If starting with whole graham crackers, place in a food processor and grind to get crumbs. Add in melted butter and sugar and pulse to combine until it looks like wet sand. If you’re starting out with crumbs, you can just manually mix it all together.
3. Press the crust into the bottom and/or up the sides of your pan, depending on your preference. I use the bottom of a measuring cup for this to get the crust really dense and solid. I also wrap the bottom of my springform pan with foil to prevent water from leaking in while it bakes in the water bath. Set crust aside. Next time, I will blind bake the crust for 10 minutes in the oven to see if that creates a crunchier crust.
4. Combine softened cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or a large bowl if using hand-mixer) and cream together until very smooth. Add one egg at time, being sure that each egg is fully incorporated before adding the next one. It’s also a good idea to scrape down the bowl between eggs. Add heavy cream, vanilla (innards or extract), lemon juice, and alcohol. Blend until smooth and creamy.
5. Pour batter into the prepared crust and tap the entire pan on the counter to bring the air bubbles to the surface. Place the pan into a large pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until quarter way up the side of the cheesecake pan.
6. Bake for 45-55 minutes. At the point of shutting the oven off, the cheesecake should still look VERY jiggly in the middle but held together at the edges. Do not bake it until it’s completely firm. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let it rest in the oven for an hour as the oven cools. By doing this the cake won’t cool too quickly, which is what causes cracks.
7. After one hour, remove the cake from the oven and take it out of the water bath. Let it cool on the counter for one hour.
8. While the cake is cooling, get started on the ganache topping. A lot of recipes for ganache say to heat the cream and pour it over the chopped chocolate. For frosting/spreading purposes, I like to do it the other way around and melt the chocolate over a double boiler. Then I pour room temperature cream over the melted chocolate while whisking. I suppose this opens up the possibility of having the chocolate seize but since I use room temperature cream and not cold, I’ve never had that problem. I find that by using this method, the ganache gets thicker much quicker and I can use it right away.
9. Spread the ganache over the top of the cooled cake with an offset spatula being sure not to let the chocolate pool over the sides.
10. Decorate with sliced strawberries.
* I don’t know who you are Abbey, but a special thanks to you!
Tags:cheesecake,dessert,Food at home
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