CheeseQUAKE (attempt # 1 & 2)
Alright so here’s the deal. I thought I had the PERFECT idea for a post; a cheesecake that shakes like the “big one” is going to eventually shake (and probably destroy) all of Los Angeles? AND the name fits perfectly?? CheeseQUAKE?? I should have known it would be too good to be true. I really wanted to have this perfect, jiggly cheesecake recipe to share with everyone last week, but the truth of the matter is that I haven’t gotten the recipe just right, and I don’t want to share something that isn’t perfect yet.
So here’s what’s up. I am going to share the first two adventures into the shaky world of Japanese Style Soufflé Cheesecake and we can consider those to be….”pre-shocks” to the main event, the big one, the 7.0 or hight on the MMS (Moment Magnitude Scale). Once I get that recipe nailed down, you can bet your bottom dollar that it’ll be up here in a flash to shake some fear into you!
The first one that I did was the one I also live streamed on my instagram (if you haven’t seen that, you can check it out in the archives!).
Now, I made two MAJOR mistakes while attempting this…actually many mistakes…but only two major ones when it came to baking the thing.
I completely forgot to add the corn starch/flour….like a total dummy. (insert facepalm emoji here) So that’s one of the biggest most obvious problems. The good news is that if you also forget something, you’re not alone! The bad news is that, combined with the second massive mistake, this first attempt completely COLLAPSED much like a poorly designed building would in any earthquake bigger than the ‘94 Northridge quake.
I didn’t let it bake as long as I should have. All ovens are different unfortunately and while I was following a basic recipe I found on Pinterest here. I guess it needed a LOT longer than recommended in that recipe, and I managed my time poorly. I had to get to my therapy before it was ready to come out, but I took it out anyways because I had to leave and didn’t want my house burning down while I was gone.
So with all that being said, at least I had somewhere to start in order to troubleshoot. I used the same basic method this time but I remembered a couple things this time (mostly to actually follow the recipe, and bake it long enough). But, I also employed a couple tricks I remembered from when I first started in the kitchen at my old job. I remembered that you have to slowly cool down custards and egg centric desserts like this one.
The method basically goes like this…
In a pot on the stove combine the cream cheese, cream, butter, vanilla and any other flavor. Melt them and whisk frequently to make sure it doesn’t burn to the bottom of the pot. Whisk them until smooth and remove from the heat and set aside.
Meanwhile separate your egg whites into the bowl of a stand mixer, and the yolks into a large bowl. Turn the mixer on medium and let the white whip to soft peaks. While those whip, whisk the yolks by hand until fluffy and more pale. Once you have soft peaks in the whites, slowly add your sugar while it continues to whip, and let those whip to stiff peaks (they should look a little something like this:
Once the cream cheese mixture has cooled, and your whites are whipped, fold your cream cheese mix into the yolks. Then, sift the corn starch and flour into that mixture and fold it together until no chunks remain. At this point, pour about 1/3 of the whipped egg whites into the other bowl, and fold that in until no streaks remain. Add the final 2/3 of the whites in and gently fold until JUST combined. (be careful not to over mix this’ll deflate your cheesecake which I definitely did the second time).
Pre-heat the oven to 320ºF and prepare your pan (I used an 8” springform pan). Spray the whole pan, and line both the bottom AND sides with parchment paper. Don’t spray the part of the parchment that’ll be touching the actual cake, it needs that friction to climb the sides, similar to an angel food cake!
Pour your batter into the prepared pan and wrap the bottom/outside of the pan in foil. Place it in either a tall sided baking dish that’s bigger than the pan, OR onto a half sheet tray. Put the dish or tray into the oven and close the door. Fill a large pitcher with HOT water and pour into the dish/tray being very careful not to get any into the cheesecake. Fill it up until it goes about 1 inch up the outside of the pan, it’s definitely a lot easier in a dish and the tray but a tray will still work. You’re just creating a water bath to help the heat from the oven distribute more evenly and create some steam.
Let that bake at 320ºF for about 30 minutes and then turn the temperature down to 275ºF and let that bake for at least 75 minutes (the original recipe called for 25 mins at 320 and 55 at 280º). It should have a nice golden top to it and should have raised to the top of the pan. Here’s where that old trick I learned comes in…At this point turn your oven off but keep the cheeseQUAKE in with the door closed for another 30 minutes. THEN open the oven door and let the cheeseQUAKE and oven cool completely, once it’s cooled you can take it out of the oven and enjoy!
Now on my second attempt, it came out much better than the first because I let it bake for longer, however it still wasn’t the beautiful fluffy, jiggly, masterpiece I was hoping for. It was definitely light in flavor which is what I was hoping for, but there were large air bubbles so it deflated quite a bit and became more dense as it cooled which wasn’t the result I was looking for.
On my third attempt I think I’m going to try to do the same things re: bake time, cooling it in the oven, and remembering to actually put in the dries. I’m also going to try a couple new things.
I’m going to add in a little bit of gelatin and hopefully this adds a bit more stability and jiggly-ness,
I’m going to add more cream cheese which’ll also add stability and more cream cheese flavor which I was definitely missing from round 2. This might create a more dense final product, but I’m hoping the gelatin will help keep the egg whites more stable.
I’m going to do a Swiss style meringue instead of French, where I put the whites and the sugar together in the bowl before whipping it, and place the bowl in a bane Marie. That’ll heat the whites/sugar and yet again give it some more stability.
There you have it. My first foray into the shaky, uncertain world of cheeseQUAKEs. If I’m completely honest, this is my favorite thing about baking/pastry…having to experiment and try things to solve a problem. It makes me feel like a mad scientist and I absolutely love it!
Anyways, here’s the final product of attempt #2, and I’ll be back soon with the finalized PERFECT recipe that’ll shake your socks off.
