Cheesecake is a very interesting dessert. It is not a cake, nor a pie, but not quite a custard and definitely not a tart. It is just a delight. Honestly, it is my favorite dessert. And because of how it is made and how it can be constructed, it easy a very versatile platform that can be used to make some awesome desserts. It doesn’t have to be just cheesecake with a blueberry compote. It can be, that is delightful, but it can be so much more sophisticated than what the Cheesecake Factory puts together.
So, if you have been paying attention to my feed on IG as of late, I have been posting pics of my cheesecake escapades. I am slowly putting together a side-hustle. I am going to make bespoke, avant guard, trendy cheesecakes. I am currently figuring out recipes because I am doing some bizarre shit with cheesecake. I am calling this endeavor, the Institute of Applied Cheesecake Studies. So far I have made 17 different cheesecakes, of which I would say 6 are recipe locked and 9 or so are hovering around 95-98% locked. I have conceptual recipes for about 20 other cheesecakes, of which some are ready to start being made.
I am locking down recipes right now, then it will be time to do a little more R&D to figure out the process and how to potentially make these baked at a better rate and higher scale. Then I will need to find an appropriate kitchen situation before I can start selling cheesecakes to hungry people in the greater Central Ohio area (also known as Ohio).
So, naturally, after spending an unreasonable amount of time, money, and refrigerator space studying cheesecake, I figured I should devote an entire 20 Questions Tuesday to it.
Welcome to the Institute of Applied Cheesecake Studies. Let’s do this.
On to the questions:
1. What is the first cheesecake you remember eating? Was it any good?
The first “cheesecake” I ever had was a Jello No-Bake Cheesecake. But the first true cheesecake I ever had was a Chocolate Chip Amoretto Cheesecake. I did not know true cheesecake existed prior to that, and didn’t hit a dessert that good again in my life until much later.
2. New York, Basque, Japanese soufflé, Italian ricotta, or something else? Which style reigns supreme?
They are all delightful gems of their own. They all have their own place to live and be amazing. You can’t make a parent choosing a favorite child. The answer is a NY Cheesecake base with interesting components above and/or below the cheesecake.
3 . What is the difference between a good cheesecake and a great cheesecake?
Intention. I say that only partially facetiously. Intention does help. I know it sounds a little woo-woo, but intentionality changes how you prep and execute. When baking or cooking becomes an activity without intention, it becomes bland and heartless.
Lemon and vanilla bean cheesecake. Lemon cheesecake is graham cracker crumb crust with a lemon flavored cheesecake and lemon curd, Vanilla bean cheesecake is a graham cracker crumb crust, vanilla bean cheesecake, vanilla bean frosting, and whipped cream
4. Does cheesecake need a crust? And if so, what belongs underneath it?
Cheesecake does not always need a crust. In fact, the Basque cheesecake does nont have a crust, and it fucking rocks.
5. At what point does adding layers, toppings, and other components stop improving a cheesecake and start distracting from it?
It depends on what the components are. As with anything, it can get overdone. There is a point in a painting where it becomes less good. Same thing with Cheesecakes. Typically I would say you are looking at 5 components getting near that threshold though. 5 could be the place where the scales tip
Peppermint Hot Chocolate Cheesecake. Dark chocolate cookie crust, milk chocolate cheesecake, peppermint cream, dark chocolate ganache, mascarpone fluff
6. What is the most important element of a cheesecake: flavor, texture, appearance, or the experience of eating it?
Experience of eating it, because the experience encompasses the flavor, texture, and appearance as well as the context within you are eating the cheesecake.
7. Can a dessert be technically perfect and still be disappointing?
Of course. Can a song be perfectly executed but not be enjoyable. Recognizing execution of perfection, does not equate to enjoyment.
Churro cheesecake. Pressed lightly cinnamon pie crust, vanilla cheesecake, cinnamon sugar crumble topping
8. Is cheesecake fundamentally a vehicle for cream cheese, or can the cheese itself be something entirely different?
There are other soft cheeses that people use to make cheesecakes. Ricotta (as mentioned before), mascarpone, Neufchâtel, etc… I am sure there are other examples… I bet you could cheesecake up some brie if you wanted to.
9. Are aesthetics important in cheesecake?
Of course they are. I think there can be different aesthetics for different cheesecakes though. A cracked cheesecake is not a problem when there are subsequent layers covering the crack, but if you are doing a NY style cheese cake, that smooth unbroken top is a very useful thing. Again, it goes to intention. If style is part of the cheesecake’s intention, a more refined aesthetic is helpful in conveying that to the person eating the slice.
Mulled Cider Cheesecake. Ginger snap crumb crust, apple cider and mulling spices flavored cheesecake, cinnamon cream cheese frosting, apple cider syrup reduction
10. Is there a point where culinary experimentation becomes art rather than cooking?
There can be art in anything. So, yes. There can be art to how someone does math, there can definitely be art in culinary experimentation.
11. Why do we insist on putting certain foods into categories? Does it actually matter whether cheesecake is a cake?
Humans really like things to be binary. This or that, yes or no, cake or pie, it is or it isn’t. It doesn’t matter, so Is cheesecake a cake? I’d go fuzzy math here with multivariate hedges and say it is mostly cake.
Cinnamon Roll Cheesecake. flakey pie crust, lightly cinnamoned brown sugar cheesecake with cinnamon-brown-sugar-butter inclusions, cinnamon-brown-sugar-butter topping with vanilla glaze
12. What's a food combination that sounds absolutely revolting but you secretly suspect might be fantastic?
Vanilla bean ice cream and olive oil… a really good olive oil.
13. If you could sit down for dessert with anyone, living or dead, who would it be, and what would you serve?
Well, it would definitely be cheesecake of some sort, and I would choose someone who is living. I don’t really have a specific person in mind though. Don’t meet your heroes, they say. Let’s say a Lemon Meringue cheesecake with Mark Hamil.
Lava Cheesecake (individual ramekin): Fudgie brownie crust, vanilla cheesecake with, molten chocolate ganache center
14. What is a cheesecake that you feel should be abandoned?
Honestly, none of them need to be abandoned. I am not here to yuck anyone’s yum. You like a cheesecake? Eat that cheesecake. Do I want to make the usual options for a cheesecake? Not really, I think it is boring to make, and many people can make the bog standard cheesecake… I want to make different things.
15. Cheesecake has been around in some form since ancient Greece. What other foods do you think have survived for thousands of years essentially because nobody could improve upon them?
Fried chicken. Almost every culture looked at chickens and said heat that up in oil.
16. What is the most important part of a cheesecake: the crust, the filling, or the topping? Which one has the greatest potential to ruin the whole thing?
Important is an interesting thing. Because all of those components can ruin a bite. But, you can avoid the crust and slough off any toppings, so the actual cheesecake matrix itself is the most important.
S’Mores Cheesecake. Homemade graham cracker crust, milk chocolate, marshmallow cheesecake, milk chocolate ganache, toasted marshmallows
17. Does a cheesecake need to taste like cheesecake, or can it become something entirely different while retaining the texture and structure?
A cheesecake needs to retain something of its inherent cheesecakeness. There needs to be a part of it that is “cheesecake.” Could that cheesecake have an overwhelming flavor to it? Sure, but it needs to be a cheesecake component. I would even hazard to say that the cheesecake component should be the primary component, or cheese danishes become crust heavy cheesecakes.
18. Are there certain foods that should only be eaten on special occasions, or does saving them for special occasions rob us of everyday happiness?
I think limiting a food to special occasions because they are “special occasion” food is silly. Limiting specific foods to special occasions because making it is labor and time intensive, and you don’t want, nor have, the time and energy to make it on a thursday night… that is a different story.
19. Someone offers you $10,000 to create a cheesecake that will impress a panel of professional pastry chefs. What do you make? Do you play it safe or swing for the fences?
Swing for the fences. What would I make though… I would make 4 cheesecakes, one for each season and then quarter them to be arranged as a single cheesecake. These would evoke the seasons and not merely be seasonal. I would want the winter to taste like crisp winter days, the spring to be floral and taste of rain, the summer to taste like a sunny day, and the fall to be remind you of campfires and warmth. Cheesecake as metaphor.
20. After all this discussion, what is the one cheesecake you'd want sitting in front of you right now?
That lemon meringue cheesecake is the best goddamned dessert I have ever had, and it still needs the recipe tweaked. So. Damn. Good.
To recap:
I’m making cheesecakes
A boatload of cheesecakes
I made a new kind of cheesecake thing
It is a pound cheesecake
A hybrid between a pound cake and a cheesecake
A cheesecake with a slightly absorbent crumb
So I have made a lemon drizzle cheesecake
Lemon Drizzle Pound/Cheesecake. Lemon flavored pound/cheesecake soaked overnight in a lemon syrup soak and then topped with a lemon glaze
That was phenomenal
The most complicated one so far is the Burnt Honey Pumpkin cheesecake
Burnt Honey Pumpkin Cheesecake. Pressed vanilla pie crust, brown butter lightly pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin pie “choux” pastry cream, burnt honey sauce, mascarpone fluff topping
It was glorious
Lemon meringue was still better
Lemon Meringue Cheesecake. Vanilla pie crust, lightly lemonade cheesecake, intense lemon curd, meringue
Divine
My curd layer wasn’t stiff enough, and started to sag after cutting into it and the meringue wasn’t whipped for long enough and fell over time
But it was devine
Keep an eye out for the Institute for Applied Cheesecake Studies
Have a great week everyone