Non-baked cheesecake with flaky crust

[shain]

Makes enough for a 27-28cm (10-11") pan or two 20cm (8") pans (preferably a spring-form).

 

While the cheese and cream part of the cake is not baked, the crumbs and crust are baked. You can can use a shredded biscuits crust, if you want to omit baking completely.

The crumb recipe is my go to pie crust. You can use another recipe you are used to make,just make sure to adjust the amounts. 

 

This recipe is much easier then I make it look with my limited writing ability.

 

Crust:

• For crust and crumbs :
• 200g + 100g AP  flour
• 90-100 g brown sugar (not dark brown) 
• 1 teaspoon salt 
• 180-200g cold, chopped butter
• Egg wash 
• Optional jam

Filling:

• 12g gelatin
• 50ml water 
• 500ml whipping cream (I use regular cream, not heavy one) 
• 500g fromage blanc (or any other soft, smooth, white and not too acidic fresh cheese, such as quarck or even ricotta) - 5% to 8% fat (not more, otherwise it will be to heavy)
• 250g cream cheese (reduced fat is acceptable, as long as it's flavorful and tart)
• 120g sugar (about half of a full cup)
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

 

To make the crust:

 

Prepare oven safe cake pan, preferably spring-from. If using regular pan, cut a piece of parchment paper to the shape of a pan, but leave four "handles, extanding outside of the circular shape. Those handles will allow the release of the cake from the pan.

Also, prepare another small baking sheet or pan to bake the crumbs in.

 

In a food processor, combine 200g flour, sugar and salt.

Add chopped butter and pulse until it form an even dough (it will be sandy at first, then start to form).

Add remaining flour and pulse until the dough breaks into small pea sized crumbs.

Remove slightly more then 1/3 of the dough, and gently spread on the second baking sheet/pan. Break any large chunks.

Pulse remaining dough crumbs until it forms a rough dough. Remove from food processor and flatten to a rough disk shape.

Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate both it and the crumbs for about an hour or more.

Preheat oven to 190 dC (375 dF).

Roll dough disk so that it almost fills the cake pan. It will be very flaky and prone to brake.

Take the rolled dough, in pieces if need be, and fit into the cake pan.

Use your fingers to push the dough so that it fills the pan and sticks together. Try to make it somewhat evenly thick.

Cover the crust in a thin layer of egg wash. This helps keep it crisp, and is not mandatory.

Bake both the crumbs and crust until nicely browned and crisp (crumbs tend to be ready slightly sooner).

Let chill completely.

Store crumbs in a air tight container until ready to serve.

Optionally, spread jam over the crust.

 

To make the cheese filling:

 

Pour the water into a small bowl and bloom the gelatin for 10 minutes.

Heat the bloomed gelatin in the microwave for apx. 15 seconds until melting.

Mix about 3 tablespoons of the cheese into the gelatin in order to make it blend in easier.

In a large bowl, mix together cheeses, vanilla and the gelatin mix.

Whisk cream and sugar until thick and airy.

Fold a third of the cream into the cheese mixture.

Fold the rest of the cream in the cheese mixture until even and light. Do not over mix.

Pour onto cake crust.

 

It's best to freeze the cake for 30 minutes in order to help it set faster and be more airy. Don't freeze for longer then that. (It's OK to skip this stage if you don't have free freezer space)

Let chill for a minimum of 6 hours, preferably overnight.

Use an air drier or a warm towel to slightly heat the pan walls.

Release from pan and top with the crumbs (Make sure there are no large chunks).

 

Slice with with a moist and warm knife for the cleanest cut.

 

Edited June 14, 2016 by shain (log)

[JohnT]

And, pray, what happened to the method or instructions?  The ingredients sound good!

[shain]

1 minute ago, JohnT said:

And, pray, what happened to the method or instructions?  The ingredients sound good!

 

Sorry, I was mid-editing. Started on my mobile, so I had to post it unfinished to resume on the computer.

[ElsieD]

For those of us for whom 2 cheesecakes at once would be one too many, have you ever halved the recipe?  Also, can I use gelatin powder instead of sheets?   If yes, would I just use the equivalent weight?  I have never used gelatin sheets.  Thank you.  This looks delicious.

[Deryn]

I will add to ElsieD's question - If one is using 'gelatin sheets', what 'strength' does one use for this recipe? Silver, gold? Or does it really matter? Has been years since I had any gelatin sheets (used to buy them in cake decorating shops in Ottawa, Elsie, just fyi) though so I too would like to know the equivalency.

 

And yes, that cake looks more than 'good enough to eat' (which is why I will just gobble it up with my eyes for now).

[shain]

18 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

For those of us for whom 2 cheesecakes at once would be one too many, have you ever halved the recipe?  Also, can I use gelatin powder instead of sheets?   If yes, would I just use the equivalent weight?  I have never used gelatin sheets.  Thank you.  This looks delicious.

 

Thanks.

If you'd halve the recipe and use gelatin powder, then you will make it as I do  So yes, go ahead.

 

@Deryn Again, thank you very much. I use fish based gelatin powder because this is what common in Israel due to kosher preference of many. I don't know to tell you the right conversion, but I guess that keeping the weight the same will be good enough.
 

I just remembered a recent Serious Eats post by Stella Parks about this subject:

http://www.seriouseats.com/2016/06/how-to-avoid-problems-with-gelatin-dessert-baking.html

Edited June 14, 2016 by shain (log)

[kayb]

Thank you so much, Shain!

 

[Martin Fisher]

Approximate gelatin conversion here.