Peach Cheesecake

Phong Hong Bakes indeed! I know you don't see that many bakes on my blog even though ahem, my blog title seems to suggest otherwise. Actually, I do bake but my problem is (1) the cake is ugly (2) the photo is ugly or (3) both. LOL! I do snap pics of the ugly cakes or even the failed ones for posterity. I made brownies a few times but the photos were not decent at at all. How do you people get such pretty brownie pictures, I really don't know. Mine looked like gobs of brown or black and I have since given up.

This Peach Cheesecake came about after I saw the recipe for Spiced Plum Cheesecake in the book Favourite Cupcakes and Cheesecakes. It looked rather pretty and since I don't have any spiced plums, I decided to substitute with canned peaches. The recipe uses Kashta cheese, a middle eastern cheese, something I am not familiar with. So I used regular cream cheese.

Unlike the usual cheesecakes that I am used to, the batter uses egg separation method, pretty much like Ogura Cheesecake.  The base is made of a combination of sweet biscuits (I used the usual digestive biscuits) and almond meal. 

I love the texture of this cheesecake because it is light and creamy unlike New York style cheesecake which is more on the dense and heavy side. I think this is due to the egg separation method. And due to the light texture, it was very easy to slice. However, I didn't like the almond meal base. It tasted funny to me and the next time, I will leave it out and use only digestive biscuits as the base.

Another thing is, it is best to use peach halves. I discovered to my horror that the canned peach I bought was in slices which I had used for the Peach Upside Down Cake. But it was too late and still it turned out alright. If you use peach halves, it is easier and saves more time when arranging the peaches on the cake base.

My cake was slightly underdone at the middle but it was OK as this type of cheesecakes is very forgiving. I had baked the cheesecake for 1 hour and perhaps another 10 minutes would have been perfect.

This cheesecake is a keeper and there are other combination of fruits and ingredients that you can use. It is really delicious and and very easy to put together.

Peach Cheesecake
Recipe source : Adapted from Spiced Plum Cheesecake from Favorite Cupcakes and Cheesecakes (page 143)

Ingredients :

For the base :
- 50g melted butter
- 75g almond meal (In future I will omit this)
- 75g disgestive biscuits, finely crushed (In future to use 150g due to omission of almond meal)

For the filling :
- 825g canned peach halves, drained
- 250g cream cheese
- 1/3 cup sour cream
- 1/3 cup caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup hot milk
- 1/4 cup custard powder
- 4 large eggs, separated

Method :
1. Combine the butter, digestive biscuits and almond meal in a bowl and mix well.
2. Press into a 9 inch springform pan and bake at 140C for 10 minutes (you can skip baking the base if you like)
3. Arrange the peaces, cut side down over the base.
4. Place cream cheese, sour cream, caster sugar and vanilla extract in an electric mixer and beat until smooth.
5. Add the hot milk and neat until smooth.
6. Then add the custard powder and egg yolks and mix well.
7. In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites to firm peaks.
8. Fold into the cheese mixture and then pour over the peach base.
9. Bake at 140C for 1 hour 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
10. Run a spatula around the inside of the tin immediately after it is removed from the oven.
11. Cool and chill.

This post is linked to Cook-Your-Books #1 hosted by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours.