June 16, 2007

Mini Cheese Cake


I did it finally!

It's my 4th attempt to successfully make these cakes look beautiful. I really mean "beautiful" because I had huge trouble to get these tiny cakes out from the muffin pan without ruining the presentation. It's either the crust fell apart or the cake just stuck to the muffin pan edge, and these little guys just turned out to be a total disaster!!!

Too bad I don't have mini cheese cake pan which the removable bottoms should make my life so much relaxing. I've tried whatever ways suggested from those bakery websites to get the cakes out. I had lined each muffin cup with parchment strip which acts as a handle to remove the cake from the cup. And it turned out the parchment strips in my muffin pan was all torn apart when I tried to pull the cake out. I had also put paper muffin liner for each mini cheese cake. Yet the wavy edge on the cake created from the muffin liner just made the cake look rustic when it's supposed to be delicate.

I just didn't feel like giving up as I've been pretty good at making regular-sized cheese cake. I just didn't understand why it took me so hard to make the smaller one. Isn't it supposed to be easier? So, I just kept trying.

So, after a couple of attempts, I think I'm an expert now. Herebelow are my tricks:
- HEAVILY grease the pan
- Bake the cake in water bath though it's mini cake
- Make soft filling (just fluid enough to pour into the pan). Hard filling makes "stubborn" cake!!!

(makes 12 cakes)
Crust
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 tablespoon white sugar
4 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

Filling

454 gm cream cheese, room temperature
2/3 cup white sugar, dissolved into 2 tablespoon warm water
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Heavily grease 12-cup muffin pan.

Preheat oven to 300F.

Mix graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter. Press 1 tablespoon of crumbs on the bottom of the 12 muffin cups. Cover and refrigerate while making the filling.

Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar and water mixture, beat until combined. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add eggs, one at a time, beating until incorporated. Add in vanilla extract, beat to combine.

Remove the muffin pan from the refrigerator and evenly divide the filling among the 12 muffin cups.

Bake in water bath for 20 minutes or until firm but the centers of the cheesecakes still wobble a little. Turn off the heat, remain muffin pan in oven for an hour.

Remove from oven. Let cool completely then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Remove cheesecakes by running a sharp knife around the inside edge of the muffin cups to loosen the cheesecakes.

Top with your preferred garnish and serve.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

They look so delicate! Good work!

paklam said...

lululu! you should open a cake shop, "lululu cake shop" "D

Patricia Scarpin said...

Hey, Lu, they are so lovely! And congratulations for them - that's what I call willpower!

Anonymous said...

What beautiful and I'm sure tasty little cheese cakes. Congrats on perfecting them!

lululu said...

anonymous - thank you!

paklam - it's already open here :P

patricia & kristen - i totally believe into willpower now. without it, nothing is perfect!