my sister’s birthday. deluxe cheesecake.

My baby sister, Elizabeth, turns 21 this weekend, and asked if I would bake my Rosemary Sourdough Bread for her party. I will also make cheesecake, one that my mom used to bake (recipe & directions included), when I was young.

Woman’s Day Encyclopedia of Cookery, Vol. 3—Cat-Cre, copyright 1966. Cheesecake spread.

It is a classic, creamy, dense, NY cheesecake with a cookie dough crust. The prevalent flavor is lemon, in the cake as well as the crust.

This was my cake for every birthday growing up. My favorite, pure and simple.

Appropriately, the recipe title is DeLuxe Cheesecake.

DELUXE CHEESECAKE

Ingredient list

Cookie-Dough Crust (recipe below)
5 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese
1 3/4 cup sugar
3 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
grated rind 1 lemon
grated rind 1/2 orange
5 eggs
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup heavy cream
whipped cream or whipped topping

Instructions

Make cookie-dough crust. Beat cheese until soft. Mix sugar, flour, and salt; gradually blend into cheese, keeping mixture smooth. Add grated rinds. Add eggs and egg yolks, one at a time, beating thoroughly after each. Blend in cream. Pour into pan. Bake in pre-heated very hot oven (475 F.) for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to a very slow (225 F.) and bake 1 hour longer. Turn off heat and leave cake in oven for 15 minutes. Remove cake from oven and let stand on cake rack away from drafts until cold. Chill. When ready to serve, remove sides of pan. put cake on serving plate and decorate top with whipped cream. (Cake will shrink some as it cools.)

Cookie-Dough Crust

1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
grated rind 1 lemon
1 egg yolk
1/2 cup soft butter or margarine

Mix flour and sugar. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Chill. Roll one third of the dough to cover bottom of 9-inch springform or loose-bottomed pan. Bake in pre-heated hot oven (44 F.) for about 8 minutes. Butter sides of pan; put bottom with crust inside it. Cool. Roll remaining dough in two strips, 2 1/2 inches wide and 14 inches long; press into sides of pan. (if strips break, just patch and smooth with fingers).

Step-by-step:

Mix flour and sugar. Add remaining ingredients and mix well:

Chill. Cut dough disc into thirds:

Roll one third of the dough to cover bottom of 9-inch springform or loose-bottomed pan. Bake in pre-heated hot oven (44 F.) for about 8 minutes *note – make sure the rolled dough is even and not too thin, mine was a little thin in one area and browned too much/became very fragile:

Beat cream cheese mixture until soft. Mix sugar, flour, and salt; gradually blend into cheese, keeping mixture smooth:

Add grated rinds. Add eggs and egg yolks, one at a time, beating thoroughly after each. Blend in cream:

Pour into pan. Drop the pan a couple of times from a couple of inches above your work surface to get rid of extra air bubbles, and help keep the surface smoother:

Bake in pre-heated very hot oven (475 F.) for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to a very slow (225 F.) and bake 1 hour longer. Turn off heat and leave cake in oven for 15 minutes. Remove cake from oven and let stand on cake rack away from drafts until cold. Chill:

When ready to serve or decorate, gently remove sides of pan. You may have to use a small sharp knife if the crust is sticking to the pan. Cake will shrink some as it cools. I started my decoration process with a layer of fresh whipped cream, to which I added a little sugar, vanilla, and zest of lemon/orange. Let Chill:

Now we are ready to decorate. Blank slate. This is not my strong suit…

Searched online to learn how to ‘sugar’ fruit. Painted the berries and mint sprigs from my garden, with a beaten egg white, on top of a cooling rack. Then, generously sprinkled granulated sugar over the top, before turning and repeating. Set to dry, although, really, you can decorate with the decor still wet.

The writing was challenging. I tried about 5 times, until finally somewhat satisfied. Important to use a small piping tube, I ended up cutting a tiny hole in a ziplock. the frosting needs to flow, so you may need to experiment by adding more water, drop by drop. Then, I sprinkled on more sugar, and also a bit of Swedish pearl sugar.