Lemon Cheese Cake With Sour Cream Topping

I recently purchased this giant cookbook "How To Cook Everything" By Mark Bittman.The book weighs five pounds, so I decided that I would work off any calories from the recipe just moving the book around.

The Giant Cook Book

After looking through the book I decided that I would attempt the
Lemon Cheese Cake With Sour Cream Topping. This is the outcome of my attempt.

Lemon Cheese Cake With Sour Cream Topping

Recipe By Mark Bittman

The cake is very light and has the perfect hint of lemon.
I topped it with Blackberries from our last years harvest. It was just delicious!

 Prepare The Graham Crackers For The Crust

 Add The Butter To The Graham Crackers

Beat The Egg Whites Until Soft Peaks

Fold The Egg Whites Into The Cheese Batter

Bake The Cake In a Water Bath

Top The Baked Cake With The Sour Cream Topping

Enjoy!

Lemon Cheese Cake With Sour Cream Topping

Mark Bittman How To Cook Everything

Page 916

Prepared in Miz Helen's Kitchen

Makes at least 12 Servings

Time about 11/2 hours

Unsalted butter for greasing the pan

Double recipe Graham Cracker Crust (page 930)

4 eggs, separated

Three 8 ounce packages cream cheese, softened

Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

1 cup sugar plus 1 optional tablespoon

1 tablespoon all purpose flour

2 cups sour cream (optional)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

The Graham Cracker Crust From Page 930

3 tablespoons sugar

6 ounces broken graham crackers, about 1 1/2 cups

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted plus more as needed)

Combine the sugar with the graham cracker crumbs in a bowl or food processor.

Press the crumbs into the sides of a 9 inch pie plate.

1. Liberally butter a 9 inch spring form pan, then, press the crust into the bottom. Heat the oven to 325 degrees.

2. Use an electric mixer to beat the egg yolks until light; add the cream cheese, lemon zest and juice, and 1 cup of the sugar and beat until smooth.  Stir in the flour.

3. Beat the egg whites until they hold soft peaks; use a rubber spatula or your hand to fold them into the yolk-cheese mixture gently but thoroughly.  Turn the batter into the prepared pan and put the pan in a baking pan large enough to hold it comfortably. Add enough warm water to the baking pan to come to within an inch of the top of the spring form pan. Transfer to the oven and bake until the cake is just set and very lightly browned about 1 hour.

4.Remove the cake from the oven.  If you're making the topping, turn the oven up to 450 degrees and combine the sour cream with the vanilla and the remaining 1 tablespoon sugar if you're using it; spread on the top of the cake, Return it to the oven for 10 minutes, without the water bath; turn off the oven and let the cake cool for 30 minutes before removing it. With or without the topping, cool the cake completely on a rack, cover with plastic wrap, than refrigerate until well chilled before slicing, and serving. This will keep in good shape refrigerated for several days.

The recipe went very well until I got to the topping. The required oven temperature was 450 degrees for 10 minutes, that was to hot for my oven, the oven was to hot so the topping got to brown around the edge in a couple of places and it cracked in a couple of places. For my oven I would need to cook it at 400 degrees for 10 minutes and it would really need to sit in the oven after it is off for 1 hour rather than 30 minutes. The time required was 1 1/2 hour and that would be cooking time only for the cake and the topping and would not include the preparation time, and then there is the cooling time before it can be sliced and served. If you want to serve it for dinner start early in the morning. It is a great cake and I will make it again with those adjustments for my oven and be sure to allow lots of time.

I really enjoyed preparing the recipe and I hope that you enjoy it. I am going to bring this Cheese Cake to Tackling Bittman at Girli Chef, A Moderate Life  and of course I will bring it to Full Plate Thursday.
Thanks for stopping by today and I hope that you will come back real soon!
Peace and Joy
Miz Helen
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