Junior's New York Cheesecake

Junior's Fabulous New York Cheesecake

I am a New York cheesecake person and the denser the cheesecake, the better I like it. I've never made a New York cheesecake that I really liked because the results were always a semi-dense cake. I wanted a cheesecake that is so hard that I would have to scrape it off the spoon with my teeth and chew, not bite, before I wash it down with black coffee. Yes, that sounds like a hard cake and I like it that way.

There are almost no secret recipes anymore today. Take Junior's in New York, which serves 'The World's Most Fabulous Cheesecake', whose famous NY Cheesecake recipe is all over the internet. But with all those recipes, how do you know which is the one that will work? Some recipes from the net and cook books have disappointed and discouraged me. I think the popularity of food recipes blogs is dependent on the credibility of the blog writer. If you trust that writer is giving you a true and tried recipe, you will try her recipes out. I knew I could trust Tealady because like me, she tests and writes about her culinary experiences honestly. Tealady too walked a long road to finding her favorite cheesecake recipe, finally finding it in Junior's Cheesecake Cookbook, and she was so gaga over it that I printed her post, waiting for a lean moment in my life when I can indulge in one of my top favorite desserts. But the lean moment never came and I've waited too long so 3 weeks ago, I made my first Junior's NY cheesecake and it turned out so good that I couldn't salvage a piece for my blog photos; everybody had second and third helpings. Yesterday I bought a 2kg block of Philly cream cheese (the only cream cheese I use; Anchor cream cheese is cheaper but makes lousy cheesecakes) and baked 2 of the cheesecakes again.

This recipe is so good I didn't change much except reduce the sugar by 1/2 cup. I also creamed all the cheese in one go rather than in two batches but you don't have to cut corners like me. To get the cake as dense as possible, do not overbeat but whisk just enough to make sure the cheese is creamed and smooth. The best thing about this recipe is that you beat everything together. There's no separating and whisking of the egg whites and no difficult folding in of any ingredients. Junior's NY cheesecake has a sponge cake base, and since I have many failed sponge cakes in my freezer (I had a frightful weekend some weeks back when I just couldn't get my sponges right), I used a 2 cm thick sponge cake as base but the batter was so heavy that the sponge cake was flattened to nothing. I think a base is totally unnecessary for dense sponge cakes. I do love graham cracker bases but these days my guilt about eating such stuff prevents me from enjoying them and I find myself going for the cheesecake but discarding the base/crust so now I don't bother with them. In any case, I think bases are for commercial bakers to save on the real thing, the cheese. I've seen cheesecakes with a layer of sponge as thick as the cheese layer.


Creamy and satiny...mmm..


Top left cake was baked using a bain marie, bottom cakes were not but turned out good. The bottom left cake had no cracks and the 'blemishes' were caused by the cling film which stuck to the cake during chilling.

I baked the first cheesecake the usual way, using a bain marie (water bath) but the cake still cracked. I read somewhere that dense cheesecakes, unlike fluffy soft cheesecakes, don't need to be baked bain marie so this time I put my cakes directly on the rack. The result was one cracked a little and one didn't, which proved to me that bain maries are more of a comfort to nervous bakers. However, the first cake fell evenly when it cooled while the ones I baked non-bain marie caved in quite a bit, but I don't think it was the lack of bain marie. I think I opened the oven door too many times to take photos and to check on the doneness, which is difficult when you have two cakes of different sizes baking at the same time. However, I may be wrong, as bain maries are supposed to not only prevent cheesecakes from cracking, they also keep the cakes moist. I overbaked the cakes, by a full 25 minutes, because I totally forgot about the cakes! The cakes were crumbly and drier than the first one I baked, so remember to set your oven alarm.

A cheesecake is easier to bake than a sponge cake. You must trust me and make this cake this weekend. This cheesecake and a cup of coffee made me felt blessed and happy. Many thanks to Tealady and Junior!

p.s. This cheesecake is still more Chicago than New York to me; I would like it to be denser. I think I may have over-whisked the batter. But still, it is an awesome cake which everybody who ate it loved. I found it rather difficult to slice cleanly. Does anyone have a good tip on cutting cheesecakes into neat slices without having to dip the knife into hot water?

Junior's New York Cheesecake

32 oz/1 kg Philadelphia cream cheese, softened at room temp
1 1/3 cups fine sugar
1/4 cup corn flour
1 T pure vanilla extract (I reduced to 3/4 T)
2 extra large eggs
3/4 cup heavy cream

1. Oven at 170 C (I used a lower temperature so that the cake will rise slowly). Recommended temp is 180 C.

2. Put 1/4 of the cream cheese, 1/3 of the sugar and all the cornstarch into your mixer bowl and beat at low speed with a butter whisk (for Kenwood machines, that would be the K-beater) until creamy, 2-3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl several times.

Add the remaining cheese, 1/4 at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Increase the mixer speed to medium and add the remaining sugar, vanilla,one egg at a time, beating well after each addition but do not over-beat. Lastly add the cream.

Or, you can add all the cream cheese into the mixing bowl of your mixer and beat at low speed until creamy, scraping down the bowl now and then. Add the sugar, vanilla extract,eggs and cream (in that order), whisking well at medium speed after each addition. The batter should be satiny-smooth. Do not over beat or the cake will be less dense.

4. Pour batter into a 9 "/23 cm spring form pan and bake bain marie for 1 hour 15 minutes or 10 minutes more. Do not bake longer even if the centre is soft and wobbly because it will firm up when the cake cools.

5. Remove the cake pan carefully, run a blade around the sides so that the cake won't crack as it cools and contract. Let it cool thoroughly, cover with cling film, and put into the fridge without removing the cake from the pan. Chill at least 4 hours or better still, overnight, before serving. You can serve with a compote of berries, which is perfect for it.

Fruit Compote: Just put some water and sugar into a small pot and when the sugar has dissolved, add the fruits and cook until softened.