Cheesecake with sponge crust

They say there are only three general types of cheesecake - New York style, Italian and Japanese. (Yes, I agree that frozen or no-bake cheesecakes are mere flans!) New York style is dense and rich and relies on industrial amounts of creamcheese, with the traditional Graham cracker crust. Italian uses mascarpone. Japanese, on the other hand is more like sponge cake, but made with creamcheese. Others contest that there are more.

So when I recently bought some European creamcheese (which for some reason I thought was Danish) at the supermarket (the usual brands were out of stock), I was rather intrigued on reading a cheesecake recipe calling for a sponge cake crust! (I later googled "danish cheesecake and it seems that the Danes use either bread for cheesecake crusts!)

Further, on opening the package at home, this French creamcheese was a bit less watery than the American brand, and less sour, too. It was sold in boxes of 200g as opposed to 225g (American).

The recipe called for only one creamcheese to I thought it was worth a try.

Kiri Chef (brand) Baked Cheesecake

Line springform pan (18cm) with parchment paper. Preheat oven 325*F.


Line the bottom of the pan with a 1cm-thick sponge cake. (I baked the sponge cake in the same pan the day before. I used a simple sponge cake recipe - more like lady fingers instead of the traditional sponge cake.)





In a bowl, cream 200g creamcheese with 70g icing sugar and the zest of one lemon (I used orange). Add in 150g sour cream, 2 eggs, 20g cornstarch, 150g cream, and 10g lemon juice (I used orange as well) mixing well after each addition.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 60 minutes.



After baking for an hour, the cake comes out puffy. Let cool completely on the pan set on a rack. Chill before unmoulding.








I put the cheesecake in the refrigerator overnight to allow it to completely set, before I unmoulded and sliced it. It developed a crack while cooling. This is normal for cheesecakes.





Variation: you may add 30g dried raisings soaked in rum and 30g toasted pine nuts into the batter.

The sponge I used was rather dry (expected as it was designed for making trifles), but had become moist as it steamed during baking. The cheesecake layer was creamy and rich. It was not as dense as the New York style, but was a bit softer. I quite like it as the cheese layer was a melt-in-the-mouth experience!