Latest revision as of 14:47, 7 April 2019

Equipment

Melt the butter for the crust. Make the crust by mixing the graham crackers and sugar in a food processor. Pour in the butter, pulsing the food processor until it's mixed.
Grease 2 10-inch cake pans. I usually use butter. Cut a circle of parchment to line the bottom. You can also buy pre-cut circles sized for cake pans.
Press the crust mix into even layers across the bottom of both pans, and bake the pans with just the crust in them for about 7 minutes at 350ºF.
Let the crusts cool completely while making the filling

Sift the cornstarch and sugar together
Mix together the eggs, yolks, vanilla, and lemon zest in a bowl
Using a mixer with a paddle attachment, mix the cream cheese together with the cornstarch and sugar, until it is smooth.
Add the egg mixture about 1/4 at a time, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed, and waiting each time for it to mix fully
Add the heavy cream, scraping the sides of the bowl if needed
Put the batter in the pans (after the pre-baked crust has fully cooled) and bake for about 60-90 minutes (until the center sets) in a 300ºF oven with a water bath.
Refrigerate overnight, then remove from pans (you can flip them over onto a cutting board for example, or just remove the sides if using a sprinform pan). Add any toppings if wanted.

The lemon zest should be grated very fine. If you don't have a very fine grater, you can grate it and then chop it finer on a cutting board.
I use a 6 qt mixer and it gets pretty full. If using a smaller mixer, you might want to scale the recipe down to 1 cake.
Regular 10" cake pans work best. I've been using 9" springform pans because those are the pans I have, but it's a pain to use those in a water bath - I wrap them in foil to keep the water from going in through the sides. Also, the smaller size is a pain because it's harder to get the cakes to cook and cool evenly so they don't split. It still tastes just as good, but in shallower 10" pans the result looks and cuts better.
For the water bath, make sure you have a pan large enough to hold your cake pans. I use hotel pans, but roasting pans can work too. Preheat the water on the stove, and then put the pans in the oven and pour the hot water in. If your cake pans are springform, wrap foil around the bottom so it doesn't leak water into the batter.
Ideally the cake pan and the water pan should be made of the same metal, to avoid corrosion. There won’t be much if the water is clean but there may still be some (typically shows up as spots of aluminum on a steel pan)

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 * Regular 10" cake pans work best.  I've been using 9" springform pans because those are the pans I have, but it's a pain to use those in a water bath - I wrap them in foil to keep the water from going in through the sides.  Also, the smaller size is a pain because it's harder to get the cakes to cook and cool evenly so they don't split.  It still tastes just as good, but in shallower 10" pans the result looks and cuts better.
 * For the water bath, make sure you have a pan large enough to hold your cake pans.  I use hotel pans, but roasting pans can work too.  Preheat the water on the stove, and then put the pans in the oven and pour the hot water in.  If your cake pans are springform, wrap foil around the bottom so it doesn't leak water into the batter.
+* Ideally the cake pan and the water pan should be made of the same metal, to avoid corrosion. There won’t be much if the water is clean but there may still be some (typically shows up as spots of aluminum on a steel pan)
 [[Category:Recipes]]