This Cream Cheesecake is all cream cheese and cream. The addition of sour cream or the popular Italian cheesecake based on ricotta just doesn’t do it for me. Truth be told, my son has eaten a whole Cream Cheese cake cake by himself- It’s that good! Add to that, you can make this cake in advance and freeze it. I freeze it unwrapped on the bottom of the spring form pan. When it’s frozen, I remove the bottom and wrap it with waxed paper and foil. Assuming, no one sneaks into the freezer, the cheesecake can stay frozen at least four weeks.
This cheesecake is perfect for the chocoholics amongst you: Chocolate Cheesecake . It’s more dense than the Cream Cheese Cake and full of chocolatey goodness,
Prep time: 40 minutes
Cream Cheese Cake
By Published: May 18, 2015
Yield:
- 8 inch cake (10-12 Servings)
Ingredients
- 11/2 tablespoons Sweet Butter softened
- 1 cup graham cracker crumbs 9-10 crackers
- 4 large eggs separated-place yolks in small dish and whites in medium mixing bowl
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 12 ounces cream cheese softened
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons pure Vanilla extract
- pinch Cream of Tartar
- 2 pints strawberries/blueberries optional
- 2/3 cup seedless strawberry/blackberry jam optional
Equipment
- 1 8 inch springform pan you can use a 9 inch pan as well- the cake will just be flatter
- electric mixer
- 1 small saucepan
- 1 large mixing bowl
- 1 hand held electric beater
- 1 rubber spatula
- 1 baking pan large enough to hold spring form pan and one inch of water
- 1 long metal spatula
Directions
- Spread butter thickly around sides and bottom of baking pan. Sprinkle sides with crumbs and pat remaining crumbs on the bottom of the pan. Freeze pan for 20-30 minutes.
- Place cream cheese, sugar, flour, salt, vanilla and egg yolks in bowl of mixer. Beat until mixture is smooth.
- Pour cream into saucepan and heat over low flame. (You can also scald it for 90 seconds in a microwave.) Carefully, touch cream with the tip of your finger or drop a bit on your hand. It should be very hot. Slowly, pour scalded cream into cream cheese mixture while the mixer is on low. The resulting batter will be very thin.
- Preheat oven to: 300° F.
- Beat egg whites until foamy. Add cream of tartar and beat whites until they are stiff. Take about 1/4 of the whites and mix them thoroughly into the batter. Carefully, fold in the remaining beaten whites with a rubber spatula. Take pan out of the freezer and pour in batter. Place spring form pan into baking pan and fill it with one inch of boiling water. Place in oven. Bake 90 minutes. the top will be brown and there will be just the slightest jiggle to the cake. Remove from oven and cool for 30 minutes before refrigerating for six hours.
- Remove cake from fridge. Take a long spatula and press around the outside of the pan to loosen the cake.; then push up the bottom of the pan and remove cake from the ring. If you lose a lot of the crumbs from the sides of the cake- don't worry. You can always grind up a few crackers and pat on more crumbs. the bottom of the cake is another story. I find it easier to freeze the cake and remove the bottom of the pan after the cake has frozen.
- To freeze: Freeze the cake before you wrap it so you don't make any marks on it while it is soft. Conversely, remove the wrapping before you defrost it for the same reason.
- To serve: Serve this cake plain and it will be delicious. If you want more of a presentation- cover it with berries and melt jam to pour over the berries to lock them in place. Enjoy!
