Let’s close our eyes for a few seconds and imagine the perfect cheesecake. We are sure that if we were to compare each of the delicious cheesecakes that our imagination has transported us to, they would differ greatly from each other, but they would all be part of the succulent realm of the best cheesecakes.
What is a cheesecake?
A cheesecake is something as simple as a sweet elaboration, baked or not, whose main ingredient is cheese mixed with sugar and eggs… From there on, fantasy is the absolute protagonist and we can find an infinite variety of cheesecake recipes with different flavors, textures and finishes. There is a great diversity of cheesecakes, dependingon the country and the customs of each region we will discover different variations of this delicate snack that is attributed to European origin. However, we must recognize that it is on the other side of the Atlantic that the cream cheese cheesecake has become the undisputed protagonist of all after-dinner meals, returning to us with renewed popularity.
Cream cheese, the star ingredient
The essential ingredient of any cheesecake that boasts of being a cheesecake is a good cream cheese. We can safely say that cheesecake is the star application of this type of creamy spreadable cheese. It’s what we call a full-fledged love story, to the delight of all the gourmands in the world!
The reasons are compelling: cream cheese gives cheesecakes creaminess, a good structure and a delicious flavor. Depending on the type of cheesecake you want to make, there will be a cream cheese more appropriate for each case. But in all of them we will have to take into account something fundamental, the quality of the cream cheese we use. The balance between fats and proteins must be appropriate for the recipe we intend to carry out, as well as its content in stabilizers to ensure the greater or lesser firmness of our elaboration. This may seem very complicated at first, but it is much easier than you think. To help you make the perfect cheesecake, whatever recipe you have in mind, we’ll go over everything you need to know to achieve results like the best pastry chef.
Types of cheesecakes
We are not going to overwhelm you with historical data. Just to tell you that already in Ancient Rome in the offerings to the temples, a preparation of cheese, flour, eggs and honey that was baked was included. With these simple ingredients, it is easy to think that the recipe spread throughout Europe with the Roman expansion. Thus, we reach the 14th century in France, a period in which the oldest publication of a cheesecake recipe in a recipe book is recorded. In the following centuries, with the exodus of Europeans to America, the elaboration and its variants would spread throughout the American continent…
A lot of hard work has gone into your modern pyrolytic electric oven with time and temperature control. Today we can find all kinds of cheesecakes, from the simplest creations, reminiscent of what may have been the origins of cheesecake, to the most sophisticated and elaborate cheesecake. Each of them requires its own technique and ingredients and knowing the basics will ensure success in their preparation. We are going to review the different types of cheesecakes highlighting their particularities and the best cream cheeses to use in them.
First of all, we will differentiate between two essential types of cheesecake, which in turn are subdivided into a great variety of recipes: baked cheesecake and cold cheesecake without baking. The differences between them are considerable in texture and flavor, taking into account that some solidify with heat and others with cold and require different ingredients and proportions.
Baked cheesecake
Baked is one of the most traditional cheesecakes and a lesson in simplicity in the kitchen. Starting with three basic ingredients, cream cheese in a proportion of 40-50%, sugar and eggs, the result is a simple but exquisite sweet on the palate. Its essential characteristic is that it is baked in the oven, either directly or in a bain-marie, at moderate baking temperatures ranging from 160º to 200º. Starting from this basic recipe, some types of baked cheesecake may contain other dairy ingredients such as butter, sour cream, milk or other types of cheese.
In its most basic recipe, it is one of the easiest cakes to prepare and allows an infinite number of variations to play and have fun in the kitchen, and can become the most sophisticated of elaborations. Our most suitable products for this type of recipes are Quescrem Natural Cream Cheese, available in 0% lactose, light and organic versions. It has a balanced composition that makes it very creamy, without detracting from its lightness, ensuring a creamy and spongy cheesecake that is very stable after baking. Its flavor is natural and very fresh, which allows us to combine it with an infinite number of flavors, with the added advantage that it emulsifies perfectly with other fats and liquids.
Another option is our Original Recipe Cream Cheese, ideal for those preparations that require a cream cheese with a consistent texture that guarantees baking without unpleasant surprises such as cracks or sunken areas. This is the case of American-style cheesecakes, such as New York Cheesecake or Philadelphia-style cheesecake.
Also the Basque cheesecake, or “de La Viña” cake, also known as burnt Basque cheesecake, is a baked type of cheesecake very easy to prepare and for which our Quescrem Natural is ideal.
If you feel like experimenting with your palate, try our Quescrem Sabores, especially the pink pepper, manchego and bluecheese varieties tomake cheesecakes with a lot of personality and all the benefits of cream cheese in this type of creations.
No-bake cold cheesecake
If you’re short on time, afraid of the oven or it’s too hot to turn it on, cold or no-bake cheesecake is the quickest to make and the best of your options. It’s also a perfect alternative for those who prefera a lighter cheesecake a lighter cheesecake a . A no-bake cheesecake has no eggs and no additional cooking step, which is replaced by chilling in the refrigerator. For all these reasons, they are thinner cakes and do not usually exceed 5 cm in height. The proportion of cream cheese is usually lower than in the baked cheesecake, between 20-30%.
It is a simple recipe to which neutral gelatin or another type of rennet is generally added to give stability to the formula after the cooling process. Its flavor is more neutral than that of baked cheesecake, with a texture more similar to pudding or curd. Hence the importance of choosing a cream cheese with a fresh and lactic flavor, with a very creamy texture to give character to our cold cheesecake. cold cheesecake . These cakes are usually presented with a light base in the form of a ground cookie crust mixed with butter. The function is twofold, to support the processing and, at the same time, to provide a crispy and tasty contrast. In addition, it allows us to play with different types of cookies (spicy speculoos, whole grain graham crackers or even with a touch of salt) to give different nuances to the recipe.
Our cream cheeses most suitable for this type of cold cheesecake are Quescrem Natural Cream Cheese and Original Recipe Cream Cheese. The latter is of great help in this modality of cheesecake cold, as its special composition with a higher proportion of cheese makes it possible to reduce the amount of gelatin in the recipe. At the same time, it accelerates its setting and helps to keep it more stable for a longer period of time. Another option also applicable in the elaboration of cheesecake without oven, is our Quescrem Sabores whenever you want to add a distinctive touch. You can use them alone or mix them with other varieties of cream cheese.
The 4 trendy cheesecakes
Once the two basic types of cheesecake have been differentiated, the real party begins. If you are a real fan of cheesecakes you will know what we are talking about, the variety of elaborations is infinite. Traditional cheesecakes, with their own name, specific to a country or region, with fresh fruit or jam, or the most luxurious version with chocolate? As it is impossible to include all of them, we are going to make a review of what we currently consider to be the 3 cheesecake trends, thanks in part to the great power of social networks.
New York Cheesecake
The New York style cheesecake is undoubtedly one of the most imitated and popular cakes on the planet. It has a higher proportion of cream cheese than other elaborations, which is mixed with eggs, sugar and some flavoring. This formula results in a dense and extra creamy cheesecake. Its appearance, with raised edges, is unmistakable.
Its most classic version has a two-stage baking method, first at a high temperature and then at a lower temperature until fully baked, and usually has a cookie crust as a base. It has hundreds of versions, so we can also find recipes for New York Cheesecake curdled cold. The Original Recipe Cream Cheese is ideal for this type of preparation, helping to achieve a visually perfect baked cake.
Japanese cheesecake
From the Far East comes this type of cheesecake that is more like a cheesecake soufflé. cheese soufflé than a cake because of its airy, fluffy and elastic texture. Its essential characteristic is the total absence of flour and its higher percentage of eggs than other recipes. The egg whites should be beaten until stiff peaks are reached, using an enveloping and gentle motion so that the final mixture does not droop. The Japanese cheesecake has real followers who vie for the fluffiest and lightest recipe, it must melt in your mouth like a absorbent cotton cloud!
For this type of cheesecake, our Natural Cream Cheese undoubtedly performs like a champion, precisely because it is a cheese with a very fresh and light flavor that adapts to the texture requirements of this dessert and helps us to maintain the structure after baking.
Volcano cheesecake
One of the most fashionable cheesecakes today, especially in our country, where several restaurants compete for the best recipe of this explosive cheesecake. What is the mystery? It is a baked curd cake whose center remains liquid after baking. When the cake is cut, the melted cheese will come out as if it were lava from a volcano. They usually have a saline touch with the addition of cheeses with a stronger character, such as blue cheese or manchego.
The success of the recipe lies in part in managing the temperature of the oven, hot enough so that it sets and the walls remain firm and do not crumble, but not too hot so that it does not solidify inside and can live up to its name. Temperatures around 175º-180º are usually the most suitable for successful processing.
To make this type of cake we recommend using any of our unflavored cream cheeses as a base, in a proportion of 80-85% of the total amount of cheese to be used, and adding to the recipe the Cream Cheese with Blue Cheese and the Cream Cheese with Manchego Cheese. The proportions of these last two cheeses will vary depending on your personal taste or the flavor you want to predominate in your volcano cheesecake.
Basque Cheesecake
We cannot leave behind, the Basque cheesecake or “de La Viña” cheesecake, also known as Burnt Basque cheesecake, and one of the most trendy cheesecake in the in world confectionery. This baked type cheesecake is very easy to prepare and our Natural Cream Cheese is ideal for making it, which will provide the creaminess, baking stability and mild dairy flavor it needs to be perfect. Basque cheesecake also looks great with the addition of a stronger-flavored cheese, something we can easily do with our Cream Cheese with Blue Cheese to give it that special and irresistible touch as in our recipe for Basque cheesecake with blue cheese. And if you like chocolate, you can also incorporate it and enjoy a Basque Chocolate Cheesecake.
Tips and tricks for the perfect cheesecake
If you have a bakery or catering business and you face the daily problem of having to process and keep cold a large volume of pastries, then you need a special cream cheese so that your preparations can withstand all kinds of contingencies, without unpleasant last-minute surprises in catering or special events that require a significant amount of advance planning. This is what Quescrem Plus is designed for, an innovative and versatile cream cheese that withstands extreme temperatures. Your frozen cheesecakes made with this all-purpose cream cheese will not crystallize when subjected to freezing temperatures, nor will they generate whey when thawed. After baking, you will notice that your thawed cheesecakes maintain their structure and creaminess as if they were freshly baked.
Do you need extra creaminess in your preparations? A great option is to replace all or part of the cream cheese with mascarpone cheese. Our Mascarpone Quescrem has a very creamy texture and in addition to providing a mild dairy flavor to your cheesecake, it will allow you to reduce the amount of stabilizers and butter. It is also available in a version of mascarpone lactose free.
If you need a different touch with a more acidic and fresh point in your cheesecakes, we advise you to introduce cream cheeses made with milks other than cow’s milk. This is the case of the Goat Curl Cream Cheese that brings the intense and characteristic flavor of the traditional rulo with all the ease of handling, zero waste and time saving that cream cheese gives you. With this original touch of flavor, your cheesecake will be the talk of the town!
The other alternative we give you is the fresh taste of yogurt. For this purpose, we recommend our Culinary Yogurt, an innovative 100% natural product designed for cooking and which has recently been distinguished with the Sial Innovation 2018 seal. It is a unique product in the market, as it combines the texture of cream cheese with the intense flavor of yogurt. You will be able to create with it a surprising yogurt-flavored cheesecake that will undoubtedly will stand out among your elaborations.
With the different alternatives that we have shown you today about the ways to make a cheesecake, we are sure that when you close your eyes again your imagination will soar and you will have thousands of ideas in your head that you will be eager to carry out in your kitchen. We invite you to share them with us through our social networks and also to ask us any questions or suggestions you may have.
We look forward to helping you make the perfect cheesecake!
