Beside the Stream

When I’m asked to bring a dish to a party, I usually suggest a cheesecake.  This dessert feeds a lot of people with very little effort and no chance of failure.  Since it doesn’t rise, it can’t fall.  As my Dad used to say, it’s big enough to bother about, and once you add the fruit topping it’s almost like a health food, if you’re feeling fondly towards cream cheese and eggs. 

Here we have the Leaning Tower of Cheesecake.  This is a cake that needs to be shopped for, since it uses up 5 packs of cream cheese and most of a box of eggs in a fell swoop.  The box of graham cracker crumbs makes three cheesecake bottoms, and the recipe also calls for flour and sugar, but they don’t fit in the picture.  As for the lemon, vanilla, butter and heavy cream, well, it’s possible that these might already be at home. 

Making cheesecake requires a commitment not only because of the box of graham crackers (and the implicit promise that you’ll make a second and third crust), it also needs a cheesecake pan.  I prefer two.

This makes a little one for the house or Miss Roberta down the road, and a big one for the party. 

The first step is the graham cracker crust, and the recipe is on the back of the box.  It takes the oven at 350F, and

•  1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
•  1/4 cup sugar
•  5 TBSP butter, melted

 You dump it all in a medium bowl

and mix it up with a fork, and then you line the bottom of both cheesecake pans. 

Just use your fingertips to press it into a sheet on the bottom of the pans, and as far up the sides as it goes.  In this case, not very far, because the little pan uses most of the excess.  When the oven is heated, put it in for 6-8 minutes, or until it’s browned.  And when you take it out, turn up the oven to 475F.

Meanwhile, that cream cheese wants to be whipped. 

• 5 packages of cream cheese (8 oz. each) AT ROOM TEMPERATURE
• 1/4 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp lemon rind
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 3 TBSP flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 5 eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/4 cup heavy cream

  This project is easy if the creamcheese is at room temperature, and not-so-easy if it’s not. 

In a big bowl, beat the cream cheese with the vanilla and lemon rind. 

With room temperature cream cheese, this makes a smooth paste.  Then you beat in the sugar, and the flour and salt.  One by one, beat in the eggs,

and then add the egg yolks.  Beat in the cream. 

If you started with room temparture cream cheese, the batter is smooth and creamy at this point.  Fill the pans and check to make sure the oven is at 475F.  When it is, pop in the cheesecake(s) and bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until the top edge is golden.  Turn down the temperature to 200F, and let it cook an hour or longer, until the cheesecake is set.  Then turn off the oven and crack the door, and leave the cheesecake there overnight to cool slowly slowly on the rack.  This prevents cracks. 

You cut the sidewalls and put the cake on a plate, and then the final step (when the cheesecake is cool) is a fruit topping, depending on what kind of fruit you might have in your freezer.  It only takes about ten minutes, so it’s hardly worth it’s own tower of ingredients, but here goes

Any kind of berry will do–I’m using raspberries from last summer–and we also need sugar, lemon and cornstarch. 

Put a few cups of frozen berries in a non-metal pan along with a scant 1/4 cup sugar, the juice of a lemon, and a few tsps cornstarch.  I stick it on high heat and stir it until it boils and the cornstarch-y liquid has gone from chalky to clear, and then pour it on top of the cheesecake.   

And that’s it: a big, tasty, professional looking dessert that doesn’t have a trick.