Emeril's Cheesecake for Shawn

Emeril's Cheesecake for Shawn

Happy Birthday, hubby!

Happy Birthday to my dear husband who has reached the big Three-Oh.  Can you believe a hubby whose wife is totally in to cake decorating only wants a plain cheesecake for his birthday???  He didn't even want a topping!  Oh well, it's his birthday, not mine.  Sorry it's not a pretty picture, but we can blame hubby for cutting the cake ;)

Stats:

• New York Style cheesecake recipe from Emeril Lagasse
• 9" round spring-form pan
• Honey Maid graham cracker crust

It's been a very long time since I've made a cheesecake, and I only used the recipe on the back of the cream cheese box.  This was for something special, so I took some time to research on the internet.  There are a variety of cheesecakes out there, but I determined hubby's favorite to be New York style.

Baking911.com suggested to keep the graham cracker crumbs uneven.  Fine, even crumbs from a food processor was a no-no, so I put some crackers in a gallon freezer bag and crushed them with my rolling pin.

Hmm, the recipe said to combine the crumbs, sugar, and butter together until well mixed.  I didn't see how cold butter would mix, so I melted it.  Maybe the instructions had omitted that part.  The mixture spread evenly on the bottom and I used my hand to mash it down.

I've never used a cheesecake recipe that had sour cream and flour!  I read that the flour can help stabilize the cake while baking.  Looked like runny batter by the time I poured it in to the pan.

After about 30 minutes of cooking, I noticed a dark brown ring forming and I freaked.  I put baking strips around the pan, praying that all this shaking wouldn't totally collapse the wiggly cake.  After ... um ... 30 more minutes? I took it out of the oven.  The browning did not progress, thankfully.

Interesting!  10 minutes in to cooling and it has shrunk around 30%.

Final verdict: Yum-oh!  The cheesecake had about 30 hours to cool/settle in the fridge.  I bet it's even better now that it's been 2 days (luckily we have left-overs).  Nice and creamy, not too dense.  The edges were soft.  Hubby mentioned that he liked that the crust wasn't as thick as we had previously made them. 

Sorry the slice isn't very pretty.  I did research how to properly cut a cheesecake, but our resources were limited since we were on the deck of a pizza place celebrating.  Next time I hope to try my hand at leveling a cheesecake, smoothing it out, and then doing some decorative topping!