Super Easy Cheesecake

Concentrate on the blue parts. The tips are just comments to make your job easier.


Step 1: The Batter

Ingredients:
4 large eggs
4 packages (250 g) of cream cheese (total 1000 g)
1 1/4 cups of sugar
1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
2 tablespoons of lemon juice

Using a mixer beat the eggs, then add the sugar, lemon juice and vanilla extract. Mix well. Then add the cream cheese. and mix until the entire batter is homogeneous and creamy.

Tips: Warm up the ingredients to room temperature first, it makes mixing easier. Also add the cream cheese in small pieces, rather than adding it as a big lump. Real Philadelphia cream cheese tastes better than other brands I have tried. I also like using raw sugar. The cake comes out looking beige because the sugar is brown, but it tastes better. This step will take 15 minutes.


Step 2: The shell

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups of Graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup of butter
A 9-inch aluminum or Pyrex glass cake mold.

Melt the butter in a small frying using very low heat. Put the cracker crumbs in a bowl and add the molten butter. Mix thoroughly until the crumbs all look evenly wet. Grease the mold using some butter and your fingers. Put the crumbs in the mold and spread them over the bottom and the sides of the mold. Push the crumbs down with a glass to make something similar to a pie shell.

Tips: I prefer a glass mold because it can be reused more times. Aluminum is good because it is easier to take the cake out of the mold. You can also buy the Graham cracker crumb cake shell already made. It makes the job easier! If you make your own shell, it takes 5 minutes. If you buy one, then you save 5 minutes of your time.


Step 3: Baking

Preheat the oven to 350 deg. C. (180 deg. F.) Gently pour the batter into the pie shell. Put the cake in the oven and bake for 15 min. Then lower the temperature to 200 deg. F. (93 deg. C.) and bake for another 40 min. Allow the cake to cool slowly to room temperature, then put it in refrigerator for at least 4 hours.

Tips: Some recipes will tell you to bake for 45 minutes at 350 deg. F. The method of lowering the temperature to 200 deg. F gives the cake a much nicer texture. It is softer, and less likely to crack on the surface.

The baking step usually takes about 1 hour, I usually cool the cake overnight, followed by 4 hours of further cooling in the fridge. My oven has a timer, so after I lowe rthe temperature to 200 deg. F. I forget about the cake and come back next morning to put it in the fridge. This makes the whole process take only about 1 hour to make the whole cake.


Step 4: The topping

The cake above is a basic cake. Its flavor can change depending on the topping that you use. You can put fresh or canned fruit on top. Canned peach slices (drained if the juice, of course) are always good. Strawberries, blue berries, even chocolate syrup all work well. Below is a recipe for a blue berry topping that has proven popular with my family and friends.

Ingredients:
1 cup of blueberries (fresh or frozen)
2 tablespoons of sugar
1 1/2 cups of water
1 tablespoon of corn starch
1 teaspoon of cinnamon powder
1/2 teaspoon of powdered clover (optional)
1/2 teaspoon of allspice powder (optional)
1/4 teaspoon of powdered nutmeg (optional)

Put the blueberries, sugar and spices in a small pot. Add 1 cup of water and heat to a boil. Lower the heat to a gentle simmer. In a cup mix 1/2 cup of water and the corn starch. Stir the corn starch well and break down any lumps. Pour the corn starch-water mixture into the blueberries and simmer gently for 5 minutes. Stir constantly to avoid foaming over the mixture. Cool this mixture to room temperature, then put it in the refrigerator with the cake.


To serve the cake, cut a slice (triangle) of the size that you want. Put it in a plate and simply pour the topping on top.

Cheesecake freezes well. You can make the cake and freeze it, then defrost it later before eating it. I usually make 3 or 4 at one time, and consume them as I need them.