New York Cheese Cake
What do you make a New York Jewish girl when she invites you over for shabbat dinner? A New York cheese cake of course!
And when I think of New York I can’t help but think of sky scrapers, which makes me think of Scott Bozic
who up until recently (ok,maybe not so recent) my kids thought was the tallest man on earth. Sorry, Scott, I had to break it to them when they asked me if Mike Jordan was taller then you, if only he didn’t make that documentary. Scott is a man famous for his love of barbecuing, he is a meat man, but unfortunately beefcake is not a desert.
It wasn’t easy to make a cake for this family without a sweet-tooth but I was determined to bring desert for my favourite group of urban carnivores and I felt that a cheese cake was appropriate. After all cheese is protein and dairy comes from a cow so it was close enough for me. This cake is delicious, with very little sugar relative to the amount of cream cheese it has. It’s also solid, like our friendship, deep, rich and sturdy. This New York cheese cake represents the beautiful combination of a down-to-earth biscuit base (Scott) and the gorgeous, sweet but not sickly sweet, cream cheese queen of all cheese cakes (Marla David Bozic)
Thanks for a great night guys. Love youse.
New York Cheese cake
These are my three golden rules for achieving a fantastic cheese cake
1.Make sure all ingredients are at room temp
2. Place an oven proof pan with water on the floor of the oven and place the cheese cake in the middle rack.
3 Do not open the oven door while it’s baking and for two hours after you turn off the oven
Ingredients
400g digestive biscuits (if you want a sweeter biscuit base use nice biscuits)
200-250 g unsalted butter melted
750 g full fat cream cheese at room temperature
1 cup caster sugar
1teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon rind
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons plain flour
4 eggs at room temp
300 ml full fat sour cream room temp
1-2 table spoons of icing sugar
Method
Preheat oven to 160C
Line a 23cm springform cake tin with baking paper
Finely crush the biscuits in a food processor then transfer into a large bowl.
Stir 200 melted butter into the crushed biscuits and mix until well combined.
Transfer to the prepared cake tin using a glass to press the mixture evenly over the base and the side of the cake tin. Leaving 1cm gap near the top of the cake tin.
Cover in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Using an electric beater, beat the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, lemon juice and lemon rind, until just combined
Gently beat in the flour then add eggs one at a time beating after each addition until just combined.
Stir in the sour cream.
Pour the cream cheese mixture into the base of the cake tin and bake for 1 ¼ hours.
Place an oven proof pan with water on the floor of the oven
Place the cake in the middle rack and bake for 1 1/4 hours
Turn the oven off and leave the cheesecake in the oven keeping the door closed for 2 hours.
Once cake has cooled down completely, place cake while still in the cake tin in the fridge for 4 hours or over night (I recommend over night)
Sprinkle top of cake with sifted icing sugar
Serve at room temperature
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