A slice of New York-style cheesecake with a graham crust and a cream cheese filling
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What a wonderful dessert. A real treat, perfect for a special occasion, such as my birthday!

It’s a couple hours of work, and a lot of self-control to not try to eat it before it’s completely firm. But the result is worth it, with a lot of contrast in the textures and flavors.

Ingredients

For the graham crust:

  • 400 g graham crackers (french equivalent: Petit beurre LU)
  • 100 g toasted walnuts
  • 50 g unrefined brown sugar (Cassonade)
  • 30 g all-purpose flour
  • 200 g salted butter

For the cream cheese filling:

  • 900 g cream cheese (french equivalent: crème Philadelphia)
  • 250 g goat cheese
  • 250 g sugar
  • 5 g salt
  • 30 g cornstarch
  • 100 g sour cream (french equivalent: crème aigre, or more readily available, crème fraîche épaisse 30 %)
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • 5 g vanilla extract
  • 5 whole eggs + 2 egg yolks

For the fruit topping:

  • 400 g dark cherries (frozen or fresh)
  • A good pinch of salt
  • 150 g sugar
  • Zest and juice of 1 lemon
  • Optionally, some citrus liquor (Grand Marnier, Cointreau, Limoncello, etc.)

Equipment

The pan type and dimension is also important. I’m looking for an elegant and tall cheesecake, therefore my pan will have a diameter of a 21 cm by 10 cm in height. A spring-form pan is ideal for a clean release, but one with a removable bottom is also fine.

To form the crust wall, you will need a glass. Ideally, the glass should have a flat bottom, no handle and a very cylindrical profile with a constant diameter from top to bottom. A glass with a large diameter will help you compress the crust more evenly. Something like a highball glass, or old fashioned glass with a smooth surface would be perfect.

Steps

The nutty and buttery crust

  1. Preheat the oven to 180 °C.
  2. Turn off the heat and roast the walnuts in the oven for 10 minutes.
  3. In a food processor, mix the graham crackers (400 g), toasted walnuts (100 g), unrefined brown sugar (50 g), and all-purpose flour (30 g).
  4. Once the mix is ground into a powder, add the salted melted butter (200 g) and incorporate.
  5. Pour 60 % the crust mix in your pan of choice. Using a cylindrical glass, form the crust walls. Make sure to compress as much as possible to create a sturdy crust.
  6. Pour the remaining crust mix in the pan and press it down with the cylindrical glass to form the bottom crust.
  7. Bake the crust for 10 minutes at 180 °C.
  8. After removing the crust from the over, reduce the temperature to 160 °C so it is at the right temperature when we bake the cheesecake.

The smooth cream cheese filling

  1. In a large bowl, mix the cream cheese (900 g), goat cheese (250 g), sugar (250 g), salt (5 g), cornstarch (30 g), sour cream (100 g), lemon zest (1 lemon), and vanilla extract (5 g).
  2. You can also add a bit of lemon juice, to taste.
  3. Separately, beat the whole eggs (5) and egg yolks (2).
  4. Slowly incorporate the eggs into the cream cheese mixture.
  5. Once the mixture is homogeneous, pour it into the crust.
  6. Bake the cheesecake for 1 hour at 160 °C.

About the baking time, you can try to hit the side of the pan. The parts closest to the edges should stay firm while the middle should jiggle a bit. Don’t be too worried about the firmness, the cheesecake will firm up as it cools down.

  1. Turn off the oven, keep the door just a bit ajar to let the steam escape. Let the cheesecake cool down in the oven for 45 minutes.
  2. Remove from the oven, let it cool down completely and then refrigerate for at least 12 hours. During that time, don’t forget to make the fruit topping.

It’s important to let the cheesecake stay in the over for a while. It will be significantly firmer after 12 hours than just 6.

You can now remove the cheesecake from the pan. Enjoy!

The sweet and acidic fruit topping

  1. In a saucepan, mix the frozen cherries (400 g), a good pinch of salt, sugar (150 g), lemon zest, and lemon juice.
  2. On high heat, bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat and let it simmer for 10 minutes.
  3. Remove from the heat, let it cool down and then refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

For how thick you want the topping, you can ajust how long you let it simmer. My recommendation is keep it on the thicker side because you can always thin it down later with a little bit of water.

When serving, I think it should be runny enough to drip down the sides of the cheesecake slice. It will create a beautiful contrast between the white filling and its intense red color.

Sources

The recipe is pretty much a copy-paste of this recipe by Brian Lagerstrom. Go like his video and subscribe to his channel on YouTube!