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06 June 2009

Cheesecake: FAIL


So the cheesecake. *Sigh* I really tried to make something spectacular for you guys, but it just wasn't meant to be. As I said in my last post, I picked up all of the ingredients I needed so I could make my Nana's cheesecake.
Nana doesn't use a graham cracker crust, but I decided that I wanted to have one anyway. I turned to Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours cookbook for a simple graham crust and began preparing my cheesecake. Room temperature cream cheese? Check. Sour cream? Check. Melted butter? Check. Ricotta? Ch...oh crap. Back to the grocery store I went.
Finally having all of the ingredients (if only I had checked the recipe before work then that wouldn't have been an issue at all), I got to work. I put the first couple of ingredients in my blender. I cracked one egg, two...Jeeze! I dropped half an eggshell into the batter with the mixer running. I probably should have just thrown in the towel at this point, but no, I was determined to make this cheesecake even if it killed me. I fished out the egg shell hoping there wouldn't be too many pieces left.
Finally I had all of the ingredients in the mixing bowl. The crust had been precooked and cooled. I began to fill my 9-inch pan when I realized that by adding a crust I was going to have extra filling. Did I put the extra into a bowl and freeze it for later (perhaps mini cheesecake cups)? No! I poured all of it in my pan that would have been sufficient without the stupid crust.
The only thing I could do was pray that it wouldn't rise and cover the bottom of my oven. Sadly, that was not the case. I began to smell a slight burning scent in the air. "Shite!" I hollered. My yummy cheesecake was slowly oozing over the top of it's pan leaving burning drippings on the bottom of my oven. I threw a roasting pan on the shelf beneath it and comforted myself by playing The Sims 3.
Needless to say, after the cheesecake was finished cooking and had been chilled overnight, I was in no mood to even have a piece. I had one anyway so I could at least tell you that it still tasted good, but I just couldn't enjoy it. My cousin and her sweet babies seemed to like it quite a bit, but I won't be having another slice until the next time I get up the courage to make it. Below is the recipe. You can make it with or without crust as you see fit. Tomorrow, I'll have some pretty yummy potatoes to post about to make up for this. Enjoy!
Nana's Cheesecake
1lb Ricotta cheese
1lb Cream cheese, room temp.
1 1/2 cups Sugar
4 Eggs
2Tbl Lemon juice
3Tbl Flour
3Tbl Cornstarch (yet another thing I was out of, but didn't know it; I just subbed with extra flour)
1tsp Vanilla extract
1/2lb melted butter
1 pint Sour cream
  1. Blend together in a medium bowl ricotta and cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar and blend.
  2. Blend one egg at a time until thoroughly incorporated into mixture.
  3. Add lemon juice.
  4. Sift flour and cornstarch into mixture (her recipe does not say to sift so I didn't, but I ended up with some funky chunks that were not egg shell, so I would do that next time).
  5. Add vanilla and melted butter. Mix on medium until filling is smooth.
  6. Pour filling into a 9-inch springform pan.
  7. Bake at 325 degrees for and hour and ten minutes. Turn off heat and leave cake in the oven with the door open for another hour. Refrigerate until set.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Next time you might buy a couple of pre-made graham cracker pie crusts and split your cheesecake mixture between them. Two for the price of one.

Actually, your finished product looked good, just a little misshapen. If you spoon some cherry pie filling over it no one would know the difference. I think you are too hard on yourself.

Sabine, La Marquise des anges said...

yes actually it does look good ... but I understand exactly what you mean ... however I would definitely be happy to have a part of it :)

I remember my first cheesecake ever (we do have some sort of cheesecake here but nothing similar ... concistency - speaking) ... how this texture .... :)

that's one thing you will have to make for me one day ;) :) ;)

Sunshine said...

Gentleman - The problem was how the filling overflowed. When I took the springform off, almost the entire top outside edge came off with it. I would have used cherry filling on top if it had just been cracked (cracks don't bother me). It was just a very trying day.

Sabine - I will definetly make it for you as well as enchiladas. Oklahoma can be quite fun too.

melanie said...

so i think you should donate all your fails to the melanie is hungry and too lazy to cook for herself fund :)

Sunshine said...

Melanie - I love you to death! Thank you for giving me a good laugh on a Monday morning. You may have every fail from now on!

Nurit "1 family. friendly. food." said...

Ohhhhh, I'm so sorry this has happened to you. You might enjoy this post abuot a cheesecake I made a while ago: http://www.familyfriendlyfood.com/2008/07/a-cake-for-the-weekend-cheesecake-with-streusel-topping-disaster/.
A few tips, if you don't mind, for cheesecakes: 1) when time to bake, put the pan in water bath, cover the side of the pan with 2 sheets of aluminum foil so the water won't leak inside the (springfrom) pan, 2) don't mix the batter too much - that can cause cracking of the cake, 3) when it's cooling in the pan, right out of the oven, run a knife around the edges - this also will prevent cracking of the top.
Don't be afraid. Give it another try. Learn from your miistakes. And don't crack the eggs right into the batter :). Cheesecakes are good.