Apprentice

This month Baker’s Apprentice comes up with two cheesecakes.

A cheesecake, as the name suggests, is made with fresh cheese. Generally

cream-cheese, ricotta or quark. It has no baking powder or baking soda and

eggs are the only leavening agent.

Cheesecakes can be divided into two types: Baked and Non Baked. The ones

with egg are of course baked, and the ones without egg can be simply put

together and refrigerated.

Cheesecakes are generally served with some tart fruits to balance and bring out

the flavor of cheese. However, here we will be using canned cherries and

mangoes.

When I was studying in Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, I had tried the cheesecake there,

which is made from lower fat cheese and hence is much lighter than the other

varieties. Also it is generally only 1 or 2 inches tall. I have made the mango

cheesecake in that manner.

The Cherry cheesecake uses cream cheese which is not very easily available. But

any gourmet food stores or baking stores stock it. The Philadelphia cream cheese

is costly (650 for 225 grams), but D’lecta cream cheese is also very good and

costs Rs. 650-700 for 800 grams. In Mumbai it is available in Arife.

Cheesecakes tend to crack at the top after baking. To prevent this they are

baked in a water bath. But to keep things simple, I have avoided a water bath

and topped the baked cheesecake with a cream cheese frosting and some

cherries.

Cheesecakes are dense and continue to bake even when removed from the

oven due to the latent heat. So to avoid over-baking it should be slightly moist at

the center when you stop baking.

After removing cake from the oven, loosen the sides with a spatula or a knife. It

allows it to cool without breaking.

The Mango No-bake Cheesecake recipe has been taken from our very own Chef

At large website, long time back. I fell in love with that one and only changed it

to suit the pans.

The Cherry Cheesecake has been adapted from a New York cheesecake recipe

which appeared in Huffington Post.

Since this is a guided baking session – an introduction to baking – it is advisable to not

alter the ingredients. I have used all very commonly available ingredients. If something

goes wrong, it will be difficult to assess the cause when any of the ingredients and

compositions are changed.

However some flavor combinations can be changed and I have mentioned them in

the recipe. Experienced bakers who wish to bake along can, of course, make any

changes they wish.

Mango cheesecake 20 to 30 minutes + Baking time

Cherry Cheesecake 45 minutes

Servings: Makes one 10 inch deep cheesecake or 9 inch shallow and a couple smaller

ones

3 ripe Alphonso mangoes, *See Note

1 cup powdered sugar

250 gms malai paneer (cottage cheese)

300 gms hung curd (about 650-700 gms curd)

200 gms Digestive biscuits

60 gms Amul butter

1 tsp Vanilla extract

5 tsp Gelatin or agar-agar powder

1 and 1/2 cup water

1. Hang 700 gms curd so that the water drains. Roughly it will reduce to half the

volume. Take 300 gm of such hung curd.

2. Break digestive biscuits into a crumbly powder. Soften the butter and mix it with

the crumbs to form an even paste. Then cover the bottom of a 9 inch springform

pan with it and press down really hard. Refrigerate for an hour.

3. Combine the grated hung curd and grated malai paneer. Add powdered sugar.

Add 1 tsp vanilla extract and mix well to remove all clumps. Set aside.

4. Extract the pulp from 2 Alphonso mangoes. Strain and extract a puree.

5. Add 4 tsp gelatin in 1 cup water and keep aside. This process is called blooming.

6. Prepare a double boiler. Essentially a large utensil to boil water and a smaller

utensil which can be placed within. Heat the gelatin-water mix in this double

broiler. Do not let it boil. Boiling destroys the thickening capacity of gelatin.

7. Heat the mango puree in a separate bowl. Then add the heated gelatin with the

mango puree, and take it off heat.

8. Lightly mix the mango and gelatin mixture with the hung curd and paneer

mixture, till fully incorporated.

9. Take out the chilled biscuit pan and pour the cheesecake mix on it. Press evenly

and again chill for some time.

1. Make a puree with 1 Alphonso. Put on gentle heat.

2. Mix 1 tsp gelatin in ½ cup water and heat over double broiler as earlier.

3. Add to Alphonso mango puree. Mix well.

4. Pour over the cheesecake.

5. Chill the cheesecake again for an hour, un-mold and serve!

For reference - 1 mango generally gives ¾ cup of puree.

For making hung curd, take a plain handkerchief and put the curd in it and hang

it so that the water drains. The amount of water in the curd depends on the type

of curd. If you use homemade one it has more water content than store bought

curd.

Gelatin becomes sticky when dissolved in water. And then when it is double

boiled, it becomes a thick liquid and it is then ready to use.

Servings: Makes one 9 inch deep cheesecake

• 160 gram digestive biscuits

• 40 gram melted butter

• 400 gram cream cheese

• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

• 1 teaspoon orange/ lemon zest

• 175 gram castor sugar

• 55 gram Amul cream

• 3 eggs

• A pinch of salt

• ½ teaspoon vanilla essence

1. Powder the digestive biscuits in a mixture. Then add the melted butter and mix

the crumble with your fingers to form a smooth dough like consistency.

2. Pre-heat oven to 160C.

3. Take a springform pan with detachable base and spread the crumb mixture on

the pan at the bottom. Bake it for 10 minutes till firm.

4. Take it out of the oven and let it completely cool.

5. Meanwhile make the cheesecake filling. Beat the cream cheese well with a whisk

or a hand-held blender and add the lemon juice and zest.

6. Then add the castor sugar, cream, salt and vanilla essence. Beat well to combine

all of it together.

7. Add the eggs, one at a time and mixing well before each addition. Pour this

mixture into the cooled crust and bake in a pre-heated oven at 160C for 40-45

minutes.

8. The best way to check if a cream cheese is done is if it is jiggly in the center. If yes,

bake it for another 10 minutes.

• 125 gram cream cheese

• 50 gram Amul butter, at room temperature

• 1 teaspoon lemon zest

• 300 gram icing sugar

1. Whisk the cream cheese. Add butter and zest.

2. Gradually add the icing sugar, one cup at a time.

3. Whisk well.

Spread the frosting on top of the cheesecake once it cools and adorn it with drained

cherries.

You can skip this frosting and just line the top with cherries or some jam. I prefer a softer,

mushier frosting hence I poured it over the cheesecake. If you want a firm frosting,

refrigerate it for 2 hours before frosting on top of the cake.