HYDERABAD: Blueberry cheesecake
Ingredients:
Cookie crumble base: 200 gm Marie biscuits | 120 gm unsalted butter
Cheese cake filling: 500 gm cream cheese | 20 gm flour | 250 gm blueberries | 175 gm castor sugar | 3 eggs | 2 ml vanilla essence | Zest of 1 lemon Blueberry topping: 375 gm blueberries | Zest of 1 lemon | 110 gm sugar | 2 ml vanilla essence | 15 gm cornstarch | 20 ml water
Method:
● Preheat oven to 160°C/320°F. Line inverted base: Get a 20cm/8” spring form cake tin. Turn the base upside down butter lightly then press on a square piece of parchment/baking paper. Then clip into the spring form pan — excess paper will stick out
● Line sides: Butter and line the side of the pan.
Cookie crumble:
● Break up biscuits roughly by hand and place in a food processor. Blitz until fine crumbs. Add butter, briefly blitz until dispersed and it resembles wet sand.
● Pour into the prepared cake tin. Use a spatula to roughly spread it out over the base and up the walls.
● Use something with a flat base and vertical edges to press the crumbs up the wall almost to the top of the sides, and flatten the base.
Filling:
● Beat cream cheese with the help of beater and add flour gradually until incorporated in the mixture.
● Add vanilla, sugar and lemon zest. Beat until just combined
● Add eggs one at a time — beat for 5 seconds, after the last egg, beat as needed until batter is smooth — but stop beating immediately once smooth.
● Stir in blueberries with a rubber spatula. Pour into prepared crust.
● Bake: Bake for 70 minutes. The top should be a bit puffed, very light golden brown, not cracked, and near perfectly flat. It should jiggle slightly when you gently shake the pan.
● Cool the cake in the oven with the door open approx 20 cm / 8” for about 2 hours then refrigerate for 4 hours+ in the pan or overnight. Cake will sink and surface should be flat.
● Remove sides of spring form pan. Use overhang paper to slide cheesecake off the cake pan base. Then slide the cheesecake off the paper.
Blueberry sauce:
● Place 1 cup of blueberries (125g/4oz), vanilla, sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan. Stir then bring to simmer over medium heat. Simmer for 7 minutes until blueberries breakdown.
● Mix corn flour and water, then stir in — it will thicken quickly.
● Stir in remaining blueberries. Sauce should be syrupy — remove from stove and cool. Will thicken as it cools.
● Once cool, stir. Adjust thickness 1/2 teaspoon of water at a time to make it the perfect oozing consistency.
● Spoon onto cheesecake so it’s completely covered — you’ll have maybe 1/2 cup sauce left, well for touch ups. Refrigerate 2 hours+.
● Slice and serve!
— Akshay Kumar, executive chef, Taj Vivanta, Begumpet
New York cheesecake
Ingredients:
500gm Philadelphia cheese | 5 eggs | 250gm castor sugar | 10gm vanilla essence | 3gm orange zest
For cookie base:
100gm Parle-G/Marie gold biscuits crumbs | 45gm melted butter
Method:
● Take a 1kg cake ring and close it with the silver foil 1 side nicely.
● Then, take biscuit crumb and mix it with the hot melted butter. Flatten the cookies mixer in cake ring.
For cheese mixture:
● Soft the cheese with the spatula and add castor sugar in it.
● Add egg with vanilla essence.
● Then put in 2 eggs in each interval and mix it. When the batter is smooth and lumps-free, add the orange zest.
● Pour the cheesecake batter on top of cookie crumbs and bake it.
● Bake it at 160 degree for 30 to 40 minutes at steam bath
— Balvinder Singh Lubana, executive chef, Marriott, Tank Bund
No-Bake Cheesecake
Ingredients:
Graham Cracker Crust:
2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 12–14 full sheet graham crackers) | 1/3 cup packed light or dark brown sugar |1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
Cheesecake:
300ml heavy cream | 680g full-fat cream cheese, softened to room temperature | 1/2 cup granulated sugar | 2 tbsp confectioners’ sugar | 1/4 cup sour cream, room temperature | 2 tsp lemon juice | 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Method:
●Make the crust: Stir the graham cracker crust ingredients together. Pour into a 9-inch or 10-inch springform pan and pack in very tightly. Freeze for 10-20 minutes as you prepare the filling.
● Make the filling: Using a hand mixer whip the cold heavy cream into stiff peaks on medium-high speed, about 4-5 minutes. Set aside.
● Using a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese and granulated sugar together until perfectly smooth and creamy. Add the confectioners’ sugar, sour cream, lemon juice, and vanilla extract. Beat for 2-3 minutes on medium-high speed until smooth and combined. Make sure there are no large lumps of cream cheese. If there are lumps, keep beating until smooth.
●Using your mixer, fold the whipped cream into the cheesecake filling until combined.
● Remove the crust from the freezer and spread the filling into the crust. Use an offset spatula to smooth down the top.
● Cover tightly with plastic wrap or aluminum foil and refrigerate for at least 6-8 hours and up to 2 days. For best results, 12 hours is best or chill overnight. The longer refrigerated, the nicer the no-bake cheesecake will set up.
— Sheena Mrinalini, home baker