Rachel
Lucas
HOW TO MAKE A NEW YORK STYLE CHEESECAKE
Final Draft
November 13th, 2020
New York Style Cheese Cake; A Slice of Heaven Here On Earth.
On a sunny Saturday afternoon, I got a call from the Whiskey dessert company. At the other end of this phone call were Rhonda, its founder, and director. She took her time in congratulating me on winning the annual trip to her factory that usually took place on 30 July to celebrate international cheesecake day. I never thought I would win the highly contested competition that only picked one winner from thousands of contestants. The winner would be given a chance to visit the cheesecake factory and get to bake a cake of their choice from scratch.
After ending the call, I was so excited about my trip to plan for it.
My first act was to prepare myself for the kind of cake I would want to be baked. This would be a once in a lifetime chance to be taught by the best on how to make a treat that I loved so much. In my previous attempts to make the New York-style cheesecake, I always thought it would be easy until I got to it, and to my disappointment, I still burned the cake at the bottom or did not just make it the right way like the pieces sold by the Whiskey dessert company. I started preparing for the meetup, which was only two days away and was so excited since I would get to learn how to make a proper New York-style cheesecake from the comfort of my home.
On the day of the tour, I started by taking a thirty-minute ride to the factory since I did not live far from the Whiskey cheese factory.
On the previous night, the company had sent me my itinerary, which was also similar to that of the company director. It was planned that I would bake a cake of my choice from the ground up and get to take it home in the itinerary. As I went through the itinerary, there was a small piece of history about the international cheesecake day. It was written that the cheesecake day had been celebrated every year since 1985. Part of the reason that the day was set aside was to allow lovers of the desert to indulge themselves without any guilt since they lived in an era that believed that eating desserts was fattening and unhealthy.
I arrived at the cheesecake factory, and it was humbling to be received by the company founder, who was at the entry staircase awaiting my arrival. I was warmly greeted, and she took me to her office, where we had a small chat, and I could not help but ask her a few questions concerning her business. My first question was about the cheesecake day concerning whether her new line of individually wrapped, easy to eat mini cheesecake represented the freedom to overindulge in the treats or were meant to control the goodies' consumption based on their size. In her reply, Rhonda pointed out that, “according to a study by data essential, nearly half of consumers polled were concerned about touching things that others have touched and individually wrapped items provide consumers the peace of mind to enjoy a low contact, safe treat.”
Ideally, Rhonda was suggesting that the nicely wrapped treats served two purposes: one to satisfy the appetites of dessert lovers by providing a clean variety of cheesecakes. Secondly, to limit cheesecakes' consumption based on the kind of packaging they did, which was considered healthy. After getting to know each other a little better, we set out to tour the factory, and it was quite interesting to listen to the back story of the factory. Twenty years ago, Rhonda’s mother in law gave her a piece of advice. The advice was a secret to her husband’s heart, and the mother-in-law confided in her that ever since he was a child, she would bribe him with a slice of cake, and even though he was a grown man, he still had not outgrown his love for cake. At first, Rhonda did not know how to make a cake, let alone a New York-style cheesecake, but because she was determined to impress her husband, she became too invested in it, and later on, it became a passion. She would always try to learn new recipes that her husband liked, which eventually led her to start her cheesecake factory.
As she told her story, I had been given a wonderful tour of the factory.
It was time for her to show me how to make an authentic style New York cheesecake. At our set up, she began, "truth be told, New York-style cheesecakes can be a little intimidating to make." I related to this statement because I tried to make one of the countless times, but all I ended up with was a burnt cake or an awful tasting cake. She began mixing the ingredients as she took me through the steps. One of the pointers that she gave me was that one ought to be worried about the water bath leaking into the cake, the surface of the cake cracking, which happened to me a couple of times and over or under-cooking, which I am a culprit of when I got my cakes out of the oven with burned bottoms and undercooked tops.
After going through our ingredients and tools, we were down to business, and folding our sleeves meant that we were out to get things done. The first step in making the cheesecake was preheating the oven to 375 Fahrenheit. Next was to wrap the springform pan with a larger aluminum foil, which covered the underside and extended it to the top. Covering was to be done two times to ensure there was no leakage, and the pan was sprayed inside with nonstick cooking spray. To me, using the nonstick cooking spray was a defining moment why my cakes never seemed to come out as I wanted.
We then mixed our ingredients in a bowl in the following order; graham cracker crumbs—melted butter, sugar, salt while beating till smooth. Next to the mixture, we added vanilla, lemon zest, lemon juice, beat together with eggs and sour cream, and battered the mixture uniformly. We then poured the batter over our crust in our pan, then into a water bath, and then in the oven for roughly ninety to a hundred minutes. Afterward, we removed the sides of our springform pan and removed it from the pan, and served it on a plate with a berry sauce on the top. The taste of the cake was excellent, and I got to take the cake I had made home, and that marked the end of my day at the Whiskey cheesecake factory where I learned how to make a perfect New York-style cheesecake.
Work Cited:
Mills, Kyle Grace. “Origin of a Classic: Cheesecake.” Bake from Scratch, 19 Apr. 2017, www.bakefromscratch.com/origin-classic-cheesecake/.
“New York Style Cheesecake - The Best New York Cheesecake Recipe!” Life Love and Sugar, 20 Aug. 2020, www.lifeloveandsugar.com/best-new-york-style-cheesecake/.
National Cheesecake Day - July 30. (2020, July 29). Retrieved December 05, 2020, from https://nationaldaycalendar.com/national-cheesecake-day-july-30/
“New York-Style Cheesecake.” Martha Stewart, www.marthastewart.com/865202/new-york-style-cheesecake (Links to an external site.).
“The Rich History of a Favorite Dessert.” Cheesecake.com, www.cheesecake.com/History-Of-Cheesecake.asp (Links to an external site.).
(n.d.). Retrieved December 14, 2020, from https://www.google.com/search?q=cheesecake+factory
Sally, A., & Sally. (2020, November 24). Classic Cheesecake Recipe. Retrieved December 05, 2020, from https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/classic-cheesecake/
Sowder, Amy. “What's the Difference Between Cheesecake and NY Cheesecake?” Chowhound, Chowhound, 2 Oct. 2018, www.chowhound.com/food-news/179775/whats-the-difference-between-cheesecake-and-ny-cheesecake/.
Complete Draft
November 3rd, 2020
In my immersion experience, I explore different ways to make a New York Style Cheesecake.
For my immersion experience, I learned how to make a New York Style Cheesecake. I learned how to make a New York Style Cheesecake last week. I called the Cheesecake Factory and asked how they made their cheesecake. They were unable to give me the recipe or even explain to me how to make properly make a New York Style Cheesecake. So, instead of getting the recipe from the Cheesecake Factory, I researched online many different recipes on how to make the New York Style Cheesecake. After researching and watching a couple of videos, I felt confident that I could build a solid cheesecake.
Some of the notes that I took from observations would be that you need to bake the cheesecake at 375 degrees. To make the crust you need to mix the graham cracker crumbs with melted butter and salt. After, you combined the mixture you need to make sure well combined. You will then need to press the crumbs into an even layer on the bottom of the pan. Now, you need to combine the cream cheese, sugar, flour. Make sure these are fully combined. Now, you need to add vanilla, lemon zest, lemon juice, and salt. Now, it's time to add the eggs into this mixture. Lastly, you need to add the sour cream, and then you will need to pour the batter on top of the crust. You will put the cheesecake in the oven for 45 minutes and you will have to let the cheesecake cool down.
I think that this immersion experience went as I expected. I personally have never made a cheesecake myself, but I have watched many people do this. The first detail that I want to write about would be that I messed up the first cheesecake that I made. I did not take a picture of it but I completely burnt the bottom of the cheesecake. Another detail that I want to write about would be that making a cheesecake is harder than you think. People think that you can go out of order, but you can’t without messing it up. Lastly, I want to talk about trying things out of your comfort zone. My favorite part of the immersion experience would be making the cheesecake.
Rachel Lucas
First Draft
October 13th, 2020
In my immersion experience, I explore different ways to make a New York Style Cheesecake.
For my immersion experience, I learned how to make a New York Style Cheesecake. I learned how to make a New York Style Cheesecake last week. I called the Cheesecake Factory and asked how they made their cheesecake. They were unable to give me the recipe or even explain to me how to make properly make a New York Style Cheesecake. So, instead of getting the recipe from the Cheesecake Factory, I researched online many different recipes on how to make the New York Style Cheesecake. After researching and watching a couple of videos, I felt confident that I could build a solid cheesecake.
Some of the notes that I took from observations would be that you need to bake the cheesecake at 375 degrees. To make the crust you need to mix the graham cracker crumbs with melted butter and salt. After, you combined the mixture you need to make sure well combined. You will then need to press the crumbs into an even layer on the bottom of the pan. Now, you need to combine the cream cheese, sugar, flour. Make sure these are fully combined. Now, you need to add vanilla, lemon zest, lemon juice, and salt. Now, it's time to add the eggs into this mixture. Lastly, you need to add the sour cream, and then you will need to pour the batter on top of the crust. You will put the cheesecake in the oven for 45 minutes and you will have to let the cheesecake cool down.
I think that this immersion experience went as I expected. I personally have never made a cheesecake myself, but I have watched many people do this. The first detail that I want to write about would be that I messed up the first cheesecake that I made. I did not take a picture of it but I completely burnt the bottom of the cheesecake. Another detail that I want to write about would be that making a cheesecake is harder than you think. People think that you can go out of order, but you can’t without messing it up. Lastly, I want to talk about trying things out of your comfort zone. My favorite part of the immersion experience would be making the cheesecake.