I have been sitting on this post for ages. Just as I was about to write it, I noticed a cheesecake post on here, one of the best food blogs ever. So, I waited, wondering whether I should post it now, or wait, or just not worry about it. Then, I decided that it isn’t really the same. In fact, it is just as much a New York Yogurt Cake as it is a New York cheesecake.
I have never made a cheesecake that I have been 100% totally and completely happy with. I don’t know whether it is because I don’t love cheesecake or whether the ones I make just aren’t that good. I have made them in restaurants and the feedback has been nothing but positive so I like to assume that it is the former. I have the Cook’s Illustrated All-Time Best Recipes magazine and it has a New York cheesecake recipe with, apparently, the best way to bake one so that it comes out uncracked. I couldn’t remember ever making a crackless cheesecake so I thought I would give it a go again. Er, a go in the sense that I would follow the baking instructions but to hell with the actual recipe which, in case you haven’t noticed yet, I am fairly hopeless at sticking to. Not that I, or my hips, needed an entire cheesecake in the fridge. I was hoping for an occasion when, luckily, we were invited to supper at some friends’ and I offered to bring dessert.
When I worked at Lolita’s Lust, we started playing around with using pressed yogurt instead of cream cheese in the cheesecake. If memory serves, we never got it really right and it was always just okay. I wanted to try it out again, because I can convince myself that yogurt, no matter what the fat content, is better for me than cheese.
This turned out really well, save for the cracks, which despite following the New York method, were San Andreas-like in size. To be fair, it was probably either my not following the recipe or my gas oven, which I don’t have a thermometer in. The shame, the shame...
I’ve also used rhubarb here, another recipe to get you ready for the glut and, selflessly, used some from-far-away strawberries to test the recipe because when they are in season, this will be even better. The rhubarb sauce makes a tart layer and the macerated berries a sweet freshness to compliment it.
The New York method says you should put the cheesecake into a 500º oven for ten minutes and then turn the heat down to 200º for around another 1 1/2 hours. Cook’s Illustrated says that the cake should be 150º and that if it gets to 160º, it will crack. I think that is if it hasn’t already cracked due to recipe mucking about with or dodgy oven temperatures. I am certainly not going to argue with them because they have made hundreds of cheesecakes testing this out.
I would also put a baking sheet underneath the pan in case some of the butter leaks out of the crust. I never remember. Then you won’t have to rescue your cake from an oven full of acrid burnt butter smoke like I did.
The texture was really light, for a cheesecake anyway, and, I think, the yogurt gives the cake a lighter and fresher taste. It is a little more work to make the pressed yogurt but you have the added benefit of being able to convince yourself it is almost good for you.
The recipe here is a combination of my mom’s, some hit and misses from Lolita’s and some playing around in the kitchen.
New York Yogurt Cheesecake with Rhubarb Sauce and Strawberries
Crust (I always seem to make too much)
10 ounces graham cracker crumbs (you can make them easily just by chucking the crackers in the food processor)
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons melted butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
Mix all three ingredients together. Press into the bottom and up the sides of a 10 inch springform pan. I used a smaller one and had extra crust and filling.
Cheesecake Filling
1 1/4 pounds pressed yogurt (you can find out how to make that here)
1 1/4 pounds cream cheese
5 large whole eggs
3 large egg yolks
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons lemon zest
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
Preheat oven to 500º.
Beat cream cheese, yogurt, flour and sugar together until smooth. Add zest and vanilla. Then add eggs and yolks gradually, scraping the bowl down often to avoid any unmixed bits of cheese.
Pour the mixture into the crust and bake for ten minutes.
Turn heat down to 200º for about an hour and a half, or use a thermometer and bake until cake reaches 150º. Or until it is just a little jiggly in the center.
Remove from the oven and loosen from the edges of the pan with a knife but leave it to cool in the pan. When cooled, refrigerate overnight.
Rhubarb Sauce
5 cups chopped rhubarb (I used some from the freezer and cooked from frozen, cooking time for fresh shouldn’t vary too much)
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons water
In a large saucepan, put rhubarb and sugar and one tablespoon of water. Cook over low heat, stirring frequently, until rhubarb is softened, about fifteen minutes. Mix cornstarch with remaining tablespoon of water and stir into rhubarb. The mixture will go a little bit cloudy. Simmer and stir until the cloudiness is gone. Remove from heat and cool.
Macerated Strawberries
2 pounds strawberries give or take a few
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Wash, hull and slice strawberries. Mix with sugar and lemon juice and leave for a few minutes.
Pour the cooled rhubarb sauce onto the chilled cheesecake and return it to the fridge until you are ready to serve.
To serve, remove the cake from the springform pan and out it onto a cake plate. Top it with the macerated strawberries and slice.
