cheesecake converts

this weekend was my friend chris's birthday, and his wonderful girlfriend jess managed to pull off a spectacular surprise party for him! knowing that there would be a big crowd, i bought a few desserts from school and saved them for the occasion. for the piece de resistance, i decided to go for a classic new york style cheesecake, chris's favourite. i went all out and bought a 1.5 kg package of philadelphia cream cheese (nothing else compares!)... which meant i would use ALL of it in the recipe :) i had so much batter that i was able to make a 2 tier cheesecake and 12 cheese-cupcakes for my family to enjoy.

btw... minor problems as i was baking the cheesecake. i've heard and read of many methods of baking in order to achieve a perfect cheesecake: baking in a water bath, heating the oven then turning it off and letting the remaining heat cook the cake, greasing the sides of your springform pan so the cake doesn't retract and crack, etc... it seems that every baker on the web has their own method of baking, and they swear by that one only! i was a bit torn as to what to try so i simply did it the "regular" way of baking, in a 350F oven until it was almost done then removing it so it can finish baking with the heat already absorbed in the cake. let's just let the picture speak for itself (try not to laugh)...

cheesecake faillll

alas, i was able to salvage the cake. it tasted great despite the grand canyon-sized crack running through it. i think the crack may have been due to overbeating the batter but i could be mistaken, as i found the texture of the finished cake very smooth and light, which i liked! i'll have to keep testing different baking methods. i slathered it with lots of raspberry jam, applied praligrain on the sides and then assembled the 2 tiers (thank goodness the top one turned out nicely!). to finish, i topped it with fresh strawberries and raspberries. ta daaaa, no one even noticed the uneven-ness in the bottom tier. i got such great reviews from everyone at the party! four people even told me that they aren't cheesecake fans, but they loved this one! made me feel so warm and fuzzy inside, and it reminded me of why i love this profession :)

happy birthday chris!!