Want to hear a sad story? I tried making Mike a cheesecake a few weeks ago, and it was awful! There were so many things I did wrong. The end result was a gross lump of white that splooged out everywhere. Terrible, just terrible.
Want to hear a happy story? I tried again, smarter this time, and succeeded! The recipe I used both times was Alton Brown's Sour Cream Cheesecake...with a few differences.
Okay, so the biggest thing I failed on was the crust last time. I don't know what got into me, but I severely over complicated the crust last time and ended up with this funky pie-ish crust. Again, awful. This time I kept it simple and followed the recipe, except I used a bag of GF gingersnaps in place of graham crackers. Flavor maximization!
I used a glass to get the crust all flat, but I used all of the crust mix because...well...I can't be bothered to crust up the sides. This turned out to be a good choice because Mike actually wanted more crust when he actually ate the cheesecake.
Okay, here's the big deviation I took from AB's recipe. Yeah, it kind of (see: completely) negate's calling it Sour Cream Cheesecake, but that's what makes it mine...and healthy. Greek yogurt is really healthy, though it's a big...tangy...to put it lightly. Even still, it's a great replacement food. Here check out the chart.
Image thanks to Pinterest, the best place on the web. Next I'm going to try replacing the filling with all Greek yogurt. :D
Okay, so once the filling was in the pan, I skipped the water bath. I have a springform pan for cheesecake, and it is not watertight! My last cheesecake got all waterlogged and gross, so I just skipped that altogether, but I did use parchment paper because I didn't want to risk the cake sticking to the inside. Next time, though, I think I'll butter the sides of the pan and be really careful because, as you'll see, the parchment paper did a good job, but left my edges looking a little funky.
Post-moment of truth: It's not splooging out! It's keeping its shape! This was so exciting for me. I've never made a cheesecake before, and I totally kicked butt at it. Whaaaaaaat?!
Here are a few more pretty pictures!
Wish me luck on the Greek yogurt cake!
I was just wondering how this tasted. did it taste like cheesecake? or like a yogourt flavoured cake? looks delicious.
ReplyDeleteSilly, silly sister of mine. They don't mean a water bath like you would for creme brulee. You should have another pan filled with water below (on the lowest rack) the cake. Its so it doesn't dry out and crack. You're not supposed to put the cheesecake in the water bath. :)
ReplyDeleteMelissa, amazingly, it tasted like cheesecake! Mike, who is the harshest cheesecake judge, confirmed it for me. :-)
ReplyDeleteI dunno, Heather. The recipe said to place it INTO a water bath. Sounds like I was just following silly directions.
ReplyDeletenice If you try it with all yogourt please post I'm curious to know how that tastes. usually cheesecakes go directly into the waterbath i think...
ReplyDelete