Birthday cheesecake
When I was much younger, I settled on cheesecake as my favorite birthday cake. We’re talking the Jello-brand sort with canned cherries and a graham cracker crust.
Though I have fond memories, I’m certain I would find that rendition a sickly-sweet disappointment if I had it now. But the memory motivated me to learn how to make a proper cheesecake. I’m not much of a baker, but if you want a cheesecake or a banana cream pie, I can probably deliver. Still need to work out those Draeger’s chocolate gateaus, though.
If you know me, you might be wondering why I’m talking birthday cake in March. No, I’m not still celebrating *my* birthday, it turns out Mark shares my fondness for cheesecake. Of course he does. Turns out I was wrong, mom—we have rather a lot in common. It just took some time for that to become apparent.
This has nothing to do with baking, but that really struck me as we were hanging out with my friend John today. The discussion turned to dating, particularly app-based dating. Something I haven’t done, but both Mark and John have experience with. John’s comment was that matches tended to tap out if there wasn’t a “spark” on the first or second date. All I could think was…damn, I’m lucky Mark was willing to take time to get to know me. I for fuck’s sake wasn’t going to trust any rush of anything. Had we been in “swipe and move on” mode…we might well have missed out. I’ve never seen his dating profiles, and never had any of my own…but in that context? We likely never would have connected.
Anyway, back to birthday cake. Tomorrow’s Mark’s double-nickel birthday. Happens to be a Thursday Trivia Night at the Troll’s Den, so that’s where we’ll be. With friends. And…if I can land it, a kick-ass cheesecake!
I used to have a tried-and-true recipe I followed. That particular cookbook was…left behind. But I’d kind of already left the recipe behind. I like dense, creamy, citrusy desserts & my cheesecakes have trended toward the more custardy side of things. Mark likes a more traditional New York style cheesecake.
Being my usual contrary self…I settled on something that isn’t either of those. Shocker.
It isn’t this, either…but this is an inspiration. Milkstreet: Chèvre Cheesecake with Black Pepper Crust. No chèvre. But I’ve seen several recipes that support the temp changes and no water bath. Spicing the crust seems on point. Some honey…yeah, I can see that.
I’ll admit right now: I had to make this twice. At least with my oven, 20 minutes at 450 degrees equaled sadness with burnt edges. Round 2 was actually less browned than I was going for, but I damn well wasn’t going to burn another one. Between fiddling with the temp and fanning the oven to check, I probably ended up with more like 400 degrees for 20 minutes. A solid 425 for 20 minutes probably would have been fine.
In the end, the Milk Street recipe led me to do a few things differently:
1. Spice the crust mixture and par cook the crust at 300 degrees for 15 minutes. It was my own choice to use Biscoff cookies instead of Graham Crackers. Totally recommend.
2. Skip the water bath and cook at a higher temp for the first bit. The temp & timing combo here is a bit tricky, and very likely depends on the characteristics of your oven. I think my oven runs hot & need to check it. It’s not uncommon for the calibration to be off 15 degrees one way or the other.
3. Let it rest/cool and then finish the baking at a much lower temp. I stuck with the recommended 250 degrees for another 40 minutes or so. Pulled it when my Thermapen stuck in the center registered 150+ degrees. I have *never* had a cheesecake rise above the edges of my pan to be able to check the temp from the side, but one little hole in the center is not going to mar the presentation. Stick a berry on it if you must.
I would recommend just buttering the sides of the pan and skipping the ring of parchment paper. I think it contributed to uneven browning around the edges. I *do* recommend cutting a circle of parchment paper for the bottom—it’s essential if you want to plate it, and protects the pan & knife when you cut it if you don’t.
Was this better than the last cheesecake I made? Maybe. I do know that it was well-received—but the spiced Biscoff cookie crust and Huckleberry sauce might have mattered more than the cooking process, TBH.
One almost-fail is that because I had to do this twice, I was short on time to properly cool it before serving. I set it on a rack when I pulled it out of the oven. Once it was cool enough to try to move, I took it down to the basement and set it on a storage rack with a fan nearby on low. Temp down there is about 55. Let it cool as long as I could, then popped it in the freezer for about 30 minutes before I had to leave. Transported it on some ice packs, and put it in the walk-in at the Den when I got there. Thank goodness for commercial coolers. It set beautifully and was pleasantly cool when it was time to serve.
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