New York Style Baked Cheesecake

(Adapted from Foodnetwork.co.uk: New York Style Cheesecake Adapted for India)

I have always wanted to bake a cheesecake. Even after baking a number of cakes, the cheesecake remained a elusive dream for me just because I did not have a springform baking pan. Now, a cheesecake is a delicate thing and it cannot be baked in a regular baking pan for the simple reason that is difficult to demould. A springform baking pan has a removable structure. You can remove the upper portion whereas the cake can sit pretty on the base of the pan. Sort of like this:

Two days back, hubby got me a springform baking pan and all my secret desires of baking a cheesecake just kicked in!

The cheesecake is made entirely of cream cheese. If you do not get cream cheese easily, you can substitute it with home-made paneer. Of course, if you are using store-made paneer, just crumble it with your hands.

I got a very good recipe adapted to Indian taste from here.

Here is how I made it:

Ingredients:

(My cake pan is 8 inches in diameter. So the ingredients are given as per the size of the pan.)

For the biscuit base:

Digestive or arrowroot biscuits: 10-12

Granulated sugar: 3 tablespoons

Butter: 3 tablespoons

For the cheese topping:

Paneer - 500 grams

Yoghurt - 6 tablespoons

Vanilla essence - 1 tablespoon

Eggs - 3

Sugar - 3/4th cup

Flour - 2 tablespoons

Jam - 5 teaspoons ( I used Kissan Mixed Fruit jam)

Process:

1. To prepare the biscuit base, crumble the arrowroot or digestive biscuits. Dry grind the biscuits in a food processor to get a fine powder.

2. Mix the butter and 3 tablespoon sugar with the biscuit powder. Spread evenly at the base of the greased cake pan to form a layer about 1/2 inch thick. Pre-heat the oven to 150 degrees C for 10 minutes.

3. Place the cake pan in the pre-heated oven and bake for 10 minutes till biscuit base is firm to touch. Keep aside to cool.

4. Next, prepare the cheese topping. In a food processor, mix together paneer, yoghurt, vanilla, flour, and sugar. Mix well. If required, push the mix down with a spatula in between.

5. Add eggs one by one. Whisk well. You will get a smooth white mixture, slightly more runny as compared to cake batter. Pre-heat the oven once again to 150 degrees C.

6. Now pour the mixture over biscuit base and bake for 40-45 minutes till the center of the cheesecake is firm.
7. Remove from the oven and cool to room temperature.

Just out of the oven!

8. Dot the surface with jam.

9. Chill in the refrigerator overnight. Next morning remove the cheesecake from the fridge. Cut into wedges and serve. Enjoy!

 I would love to hear from you. Please give me your feedback in the Comments section.