Say Cheese!

I love cheese. My better half loves it even more. So what better way to celebrate his birthday (commiserate his aging) than to bake him a cheesecake. There is only one tiny insignificant problem - I can't bake. Not to save my life nor the lives of others. In fact, the few who have had the misfortune to taste my baking were probably contemplating my untimely demise.

Sure the odd packet mix has successfully transformed into something that vaguely resembles the picture (though taste cannot be guaranteed), mostly it likened to swallowing sand or chewing rocks. 

But I am determined to bake this cheesecake. And no memory of baking disasters will stand in my way.

First, finding a good recipe. I searched high and low and settled on this one. I won't reproduce it here since it is much more nicely set out on their website (note they did not pay me to put it here, I wish!)

How to make the perfect cheesecake

I am a perfectionist, so the recipe had me at the title. But what I like about it, is the explanation of how each component fits together, the common pitfalls, and the little things we worry about that doesn't really make a difference to the final product. The encouraging comments from non-bakers and first-time bakers also made me think that maybe this recipe is so fool-proof that even I can do it.

Finished product

To cut a long story short - I did it! I made a cheesecake (see below) and no teeth were broken in the process of eating it. In fact it tasted amazing.

Tips and Notes

1. One note I'd like to add (which may seem obvious) is that start making this early. I started at 8pm and when it was all cooled and ready to put into the fridge, it was about 2am. Since the crucial part to a smooth and uncracked cheesecake is slow cooking and slow cooling, the turn around time I found was around 4-5 hours until you finally put it in the fridge. This means if you're making for a dinner party, either do it the night before or the latest would be in the morning, since it needs at least 4 hours in the fridge after it has cooled to room temperature to really get it to that consistency of a cheesecake.
2. For my own taste, next time I would probably add a little more sour cream and lemon juice and a little less sugar
3. I used half Neufchatel and half Philadelphia cream cheese. More Philly will make it denser and more Neufchatel will make it lighter and fluffier 

Famous last words

If I can bake a cheesecake, so can you! Feel free to share your baking tips, adventures or disasters below!