By Robert Wu for his family and friends
When I lived in New York City many years ago, I obtained a very good recipe for cheesecake from a friend. He enjoyed cooking and brought home-baked cheesecakes to the office each Christmas to share with his colleagues. This became a ritual each winter and my friend had plenty of opportunities to perfect his recipe.
This is an extremely rich recipe. It probably has enough animal fat to clog the main pipes in New York. So use it with extreme caution. I tried it once, only once, and it came out great. I dared not bake it again lest I get addicted to it.
2 lb. Cream cheese
1-1/2 cup sugar (use 1-3/4 cup for sweeter taste)
4 eggs
1 stick (1/4 lb.) melted butter
3 tablespoon corn starch
3 tablespoon flour
½ pint heavy cream (use 3/4 pt for creamier texture)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Keep cream cheese at room temperature for a few hours. Mash into mush.
- Put in sugar, then eggs. Mix by hand.
- Put in corn starch, flour, and butter. Mix by hand.
- Pour in cream, a bit at a time. Mix with electric mixer at low speed, then at medium speed. Do not over mix.
- Mix in vanilla.
- Butter 9 inch x 9 inch cake pan (or special cheesecake pan). Fill.
- Warm oven to 350F (or 175C). Bake for 1 hour.
- Turn off oven, open oven door, let sit for 2 hours.
- Chill cake in refrigerator.
- Serve. Accept compliments.