My mother never liked cheesecake, so unlike many of the other desserts in my repertoire, I was never exposed to the creation process while growing up. Of course, I wasn't exposed to carrot cakes either, but that turned out well. So, using the success of the carrot cake recipe I base my current recipe on, I turned to the all-new ultimate Southern Living Cookbook (copyright 2006), and followed the recipe for "Deluxe Cheesecake" in there. Well, I didn't follow it exactly, but that wasn't the problem.
Why didn't I follow the recipe exactly? I've always had trouble with making regular graham cracker crusts using crushed store-bought graham crackers, butter, and sugar. I can't make them stick to the sides of the pan. So, I had found a graham cracker recipe (more about that in another post) that I modified to my liking and tried to make a graham cracker crust out of it (plus extra butter & sugar to the original cracker recipe to make it more "crusty"). Well, it's easier to get that dough to stick to the sides of the pan, but it's still difficult to do.
The filling, I followed the recipe exactly. Thirty-two ounces of cream cheese & 24 ounces of sour cream go into the mixer bowl, & I think to myself, "That certainly is a lot of filling and I haven't gotten the 7 eggs in yet. Hmm." I used the 9-inch springform pan with 3 inch sides like the recipe says, and the filling is almost overflowing out of the pan. I couldn't scrape the bowl out because of all the filling: not a good sign.
The picture of the cheesecake in the cookbook shows that the finished cheesecake is approximately 2.5 inches taller than the crust. Also, the recipe doesn't say how far up the sides of the pan the crust needs to go. So, I think that the finished cake will rise around 2 inches out of the pan, since the crust is all the way to the top of the edges of the pan. So, it goes into the oven.
I start to notice smoke coming from the oven after a while. I had forgotten to set the timer and now the overflowing cheesecake batter had caught fire on the elements of my oven. Thinking that it was done, I turn off the oven and wait the 4 hours with it in the off oven that it says to in the cookbook. After finishing the waiting game, I took the cheesecake out. I poured (yes, POURED) it into the trash.
Cleaning the oven was no fun (every window in the house was open, every ceiling fan set on high, and the exhaust fans sucking air out as hard as they could). I felt like my eyes burning for a couple of days every time I walked into my house.
Was I scared to try again? Well, yes, yes I was, but I was ready for the challenge.
How did the next attempt go? Stay tuned, and the next installment will let you know more.
No comments:
Post a Comment