Searchin'

Two things I’ve been searching for all my life: the perfect sourdough and the perfect cheesecake. I tasted the former in a scruffy deli overlooking a badly-tarmaced car park in San Diego about ten years ago and have never been able to find, buy or bake anything comparable. I will die remembering that bread.

The cheesecake hasn’t been quite so Holy a Grail; the worst thing about the sourdough is that I found it in the first place and that I know it’s out there, waiting for me, on the other side of the world. But the cheesecake’s not turned up yet. One day I’ll turn a corner, walk into a Maison Bertaux-style patissierie or a grotty transport caff, and it’ll look up and say "There you are”.

Until then, I keep looking. This is the most recent try: it’s based on a recipe from a book of New York recipes which claims this is the cheesecake served in Lindy’s deli. I’ve been to Lindy’s. This ain’t the cheesecake.

But it’ll do.

Equipment

One cake tin, 8” diameter, springform or loose-bottom, with deep sides – a flat shallow sandwich tin’s no good for this as it rises soufflé-like in the tin before settling into a dense, savoury-sweet mass.

One larger deep tin, a roaster or similar, large enough to stand the round tin inside.

Ingredients

A little butter

Four or five digestive biscuits, crushed into crumbs

800 grams cream cheese

Grated zest of two lemons and one orange

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

125 ml double cream

180 grams caster sugar

5 large eggs

1 tablespoon crème freche

The original recipe calls for fewer eggs and more crème freche, but I’ve found that makes for a very wet mixture which tends to collapse in the middle when you take it out of the oven, so a bit of fiddling has given me the above quantities.

Pre-heat the oven to 190C. Cut a disc of foil or baking parchment to fit in the base of the cake tin (if you’re using a loose-bottomed tin it’s easier to just wrap the base in foil). Butter the inside and base of the tin, then scatter the biscuit crumbs over the base and sides until they’re nicely coated. Shake out the excess crumbs.

In a bowl (if you’re using a mixer, it should be at low to medium speed), mix together the cream cheese, zests and vanilla extract until they’re well-combined. Then add the cream and the sugar, and mix them in.

Beat in the eggs; do these one at a time or there’s a chance the mixture will curdle. Then add the crème freche and beat that in.

Pour the mixture into the cake tin.

Put the kettle on.

Place the cake tin into the larger roaster, and pour boiling water into the larger tin until it’s about half way up the sides of the cake tin.

Bake it for 75 minutes, or until the middle stays firm when you shake the tin. This may take a long time: if need be, turn the oven down to a very low heat and let the cake stay in the oven until it’s done.

Take the cake out of the water and leave it to cool. Some say it should come out of the tin after ten minutes and left to cool on a rack, others say it can stay in the tin until it’s cold. I’ve done both and there seems to be no discernable difference. Ideally it’ll look pale yellow from the egg yolks, with a slightly browned top. Chances are, though, especially the first time you make it, it’ll be dark brown to a little burned. It doesn’t matter. The taste is the same.

This is a very gooey cake, essentially a kind of egg custard thickened with cream cheese. If you’re fussy about getting clean-edged slices, dip your knife in hot water and dry it before you cut each slice.

No photo as it tends to get 'sampled' as soon as it's done.