Dear Eric: Do you have a cranberry cheesecake recipe? I would like to serve it for Thanksgiving along with my pumpkin pie.
Barb
Dear Barb: I love making cheesecake and experimenting with different ways to flavour it. Until your query, I had not made a cranberry-flavoured one and was excited to take up the challenge.
Because cheesecake tends to be on the sweet side, I sliced whole cranberries and folded them into the filling. The tartness of the berries was balanced by the sugar in the filling and when the cake was cooled and sliced, beautiful red flecks could be seen.
I called my creation triple cranberry cheesecake because, beyond the cranberries in the filling, I also drizzled wedges of the cake with cranberry syrup that I made from cranberry juice concentrate.
The third hit of cranberry is in the cake's garnish, which was made by soaking dried cranberries in orange liqueur. The soaked cranberries were drained and used to garnish the spirals of whipped cream I piped on the cake.
When making cheesecake, don't use an old, dented spring-form pan prone to leaking. Invest in a new one, wash and dry it carefully after each use and find a good place to store it so it maintains its shape.
For a smooth batter, the cream cheese should be at room temperature. If it's icy-cold, it won't blend well with the other ingredients and you could end up with lumpy batter.
Cracks can sometimes appear on the surface of cheesecake during baking. One way to help prevent that is not to beat the heck out of the batter. If you rapidly beat it, you'll introduce too much air, which can cause the batter to deflate in the oven and the cake to crack during baking.
A cake might also crack during baking if too much moisture is lost and it contracts. To help prevent this, before you preheat the oven, place a shallow pan filled with an inch or so of water on the bottom rack.
Place the other oven rack in the middle and bake the cheesecake on it after preheating the oven. The steamy environment will keep the top of the cake moist and promote even baking.
To prevent cracking after baking, allow the cake to cool, then run a sharp, water-dampened paring knife around the edge of the unmoulded cake to a depth of one inch. This step will prevent the top of the cake from cracking as it cools and contracts from the sides of the pan.
If you under-bake a cheesecake, slices will be soft and messy. If you overbake it, the cake texture will be unappealingly dry.
When done right, the cake will still slightly jiggle in the centre if the pan is tapped. If the cake is still very wobbly, it's not done; if it does not move at all, it's over-baked.
Triple Cranberry Cheesecake
I called this triple cranberry cheesecake because sliced cranberries are in the filling, cranberry syrup is drizzled on the cake and liqueur-soaked dried cranberries are used to garnish it. You can make the cake, syrup and soaked cranberries the day before needed.
Preparation time: 30 minutes, plus chilling time Cooking time: 70 minutes
Makes: 10 to 12 servings
For the crust
1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
Combine the crust ingredients in a medium bowl.
Spoon, spread and press the crust into the bottom and a little bit up the sides of a tight-sealing 10-inch springform cake pan. Set aside until needed.
For the filling and cake
3 (250 gram) bricks firm cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries, each thinly sliced
Place a shallow pan filled with an inch or so of water on the bottom rack of the oven. Place the other oven rack in the middle. Preheat the oven to 325 F.
Place the cream cheese in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on low to medium speed until very smooth. Gradually beat in the sugar. Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping the sides of the bowl after each addition. Mix in the vanilla.
Gently fold the sliced cranberries into the batter.
Spoon the batter into the pan.
Bake the cake in the middle of the oven 70 minutes, or until the cake jiggles slightly only in the very centre when the pan is tapped.
Set the cake on a baking rack and cool 10 minutes.
Now run a sharp, waterdampened paring knife around the edge of the unmoulded cake to a depth of one inch. (This should help prevent the cake from potentially cracking on top as it cools and contracts.) Cool the cake to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours, or overnight.
For the toppings and to serve
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup orange liqueur
1 (295 mL) container frozen cranberry juice concentrate, thawed
- whipped cream to taste
10 to 12 mint sprigs
Place the cranberries in a small bowl. Add the orange liqueur, cover and steep the cranberries at room temperature 4 hours, or overnight.
To make cranberry syrup, place the cranberry juice concentrate in a small pot. Simmer until reduced by about one-third, until lightly thickened and syrupy. Pour into a small jug with a spout and cool to room temperature. Cover and keep syrup at room temperature until needed.
(If the syrup is too thick once cooled, simply thin with a bit of hot water.)
To serve the cake, drain the cranberries and save the leftover liqueur for another use, such as flavouring another dessert. Run a hot-water-heated, sharp paring knife around the outer edges of the cake and then unmould.
Use a hot-water-heated and dried, sharp, thin knife to cut the cake into wedges. Set the wedges on plates and drizzle with the syrup.
Pipe or dollop some whipped cream on each wedge of cake. Set a few liqueur-soaked cranberries on top of the whipped cream. Garnish with mint sprigs and serve.
Eric Akis is the author of the best-selling Everyone Can Cook series of cookbooks. His columns appear in the Life section Wednesday and Sunday.
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