CC Cheese Cake

After my experience with bread, even more so with my still on-going quest for chewy chocolate chips cookies, cheese cake is my confidence booster.

A friend gave me the recipe.  The first time I baked it, I followed it all diligently; even when that meant having some left over cream; too much to trash and too little for anything else.  Frustrating isn’t it?? So it sat in the fridge for many, many days and finally ended up in the trash bag. *URGHHH*

I think it’s in my gene (ya right, what an excuse …), having left over ingredients just drives me nuts!  So I looked around and concluded that a little difference in the cream cheese and thickened cream ratio is not going to kill the recipe. I don’t know the original source of the recipe; obviously it has been passed around from one generous baker to another, then to another.  Thank you all for sharing your precious recipes and experiences in your food blogs.  We food bloggers are bunch of nice people you know …. **blush blush**

Here is my modified version. 

Ingredients:

Base

15 pcs of Digestive Biscuits (crushed)

80g melted butter

Or,

20 pcs of Oreo cookies (crushed,40 pcs after cream removed)

45g melted butter

Filling

2x 250g of Kraft Philadelphia cream cheese

150g caster sugar

1 ½ tablespoon of corn flour

2 eggs, lightly beaten

275ml Thickened cream (I use Bula)

Optional:

 Juice and zest of lemon

Or

Zest of 1 orange

Directions:

1.      Combine biscuits crumbs and melted butter.  Press into a spring form cake pan lined with aluminum foil. Chill in fridge for half an hour.

2.      Beat cream cheese and sugar till smooth.  Add corn flour, eggs, thicken cream and beat till combine.

3.      Add lemon juice and zest or orange zest.

4.      Pour mixture into prepared cake pan and bake for 40 – 45 mins at 180C. 

5.      Cool in oven till near to room temperature and chill in fridge overnight.

You will find that the cream cheese and cream portion is in full packing size. If you are using different brands, potentially different packing size,  er ...  go with the gut feeling;  a little more or less is fine.

My kids love Oreo cookies base, which means the Digestive biscuits are now sitting in the can doing nothing … *URGHHH*

If you like thicker base, by all means increase the base portion.  I have also tried mixing Oreo cookies with Digestive biscuits in an attempt to finish up the latter.  My daughter commented: “Mummy, the Oreo base taste different today and it is not as sweet.” She is 11 years old, and refused to be fooled.

The challenge for me is the aesthetic look of the cheese cake.  My cheese cakes had this rim around it; like Crater Lake. Sometimes better sometimes not, depending on how I played with the oven conditions. Sad to say, I have not found the right conditions … yet. But hey, even Starbucks cheese cake looks the same! Happened to the pro even, so I am not that in a hurry.

My good friend, Jen, bake hers in water bath to avoid crater formation.  I am not sure how well that works, but I won’t do it.  Once, and only once, I had my bread dough in the oven with hot water during proofing.  The steam went in between the glass panels of the door; leaving running water marks, drove me nuts!  Worst, that area is not accessible for cleaning … still an eyesore! *URGHHH*

This is the first time I had such an even rise in the oven.  I think that's because I covered the top since the very beginning.  Then I had to uncover it cos' there was no sign of drying after 30 mins.

Rim or no rim, they all taste good.  Friends have asked for the recipe and happily baking away ...