Creamy & Fluffy Cheesecake

After a delightful experience with the Creamy Cheesecake a week ago, I'm here with a cheesecake again... This time, as I've mentioned I was going to do, I did a slight tweak to the method, in the hope of duplicating The Coffee Bean Chicago Cheesecake, at least the texture.... 

So, did I succeed? Well, I think I was not exactly there..... but almost.. I'm very happy with the result though. So, beating the egg whites separately did produce a fluffier cheesecake, just like the Souffle Cheesecake. 

I'm also happy with how it tastes this time... rich & creamy but not so tangy. This time, I reduced the Greek yogurt significantly & mixed it with a can of cream. Hmmm.... I wonder what the outcome would be if I were to use whipping cream... No... I'm not going to experiment with that so soon.. or we'll all be cheesecake overload! 

Ok.. before I leave you with the recipe, just some notes:

1. This recipe is still based on the recipe by Dorie Greenspan.
2. You may vary the combination of cream & yogurt. It all depends on how creamy or tangy you want the cheesecake to be.
3. Again, mine is the low version, so if you want a tall cake, just double up the cheesecake ingredients.

Creamy & Fluffy Cheesecake

For the crust:
170g (1 3/4) cups graham cracker crumbs
30g (3 tbsp) sugar
pinch of salt
60g (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted

For the cheesecake:
500g (two 250g boxes) cream cheese, at room temperature
120g (2/3 cups sugar) - divided
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp pure vanilla paste
2 large eggs (separated), at room temperature
1 can (170g) Nestle cream (sterilised pure dairy cream)
50g (3 tbsp) Greek yogurt

This is the cream that I used. Picture taken from fairprice.com.sg.

To make the crust:

1. Butter a 9-inch square (with removable bottom) or  round springform pan & wrap the bottom of the pan in a double layer of aluminium foil. Put the pan on a baking sheet.
2. Stir the crumbs, sugar and salt together in a medium bowl. Pour over the melted butter and stir until all of the dry ingredients are uniformly moist. Turn the ingredients into the buttered  pan & use your fingers to pat an even layer of crumbs along the bottom of the pan. You may put the pan in the freezer while you preheat the oven. I didn't do that.
3. Center a rack in the oven, preheat the oven to 180°C & place the pan on a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Set the crust aside to cool on a rack while you make the cheesecake.
4. Reduce the oven temperature to 170°C

To make the cheesecake:

1. Put a kettle of water on to boil.
2. Working in a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the cream cheese at medium speed until it is soft and lives up to the creamy part of its name, about 4 minutes. With the mixer running, add salt & 3/4 of the sugar & continue to beat another 4 minutes or so, until the cream cheese is light. Beat in the vanilla. Add the egg yolk one by one, beating for a full minute after each addition. Reduce the mixer speed to low and stir in the cream & greek yogurt. Set aside.
3. Place the egg white in a mixing bowl & beat on medium speed for about 1 minute. Then add the rest of sugar & continue beating until soft peak.
4. Scoop 1/3 of meringue into the cream cheese mixture & fold in, preferably, using a hand whisk. Then add in the rest of meringue & continue mixing until well blended.
5. Put the foil-wrapped baking pan in the roaster pan.
6. Scrape the batter into the baking pan. Put the roasting pan in the oven and pour enough boiling water into the roaster to come halfway up the sides of the baking pan.
7. Bake the cheesecake for 50 minutes, at which point the top will be browned. Turn off the oven's heat and prop the oven door open with a wooden spoon. Allow the cheesecake to luxuriate in its water bath for another hour.
8. After 1 hour, carefully pull the setup out of the oven, lift the pan out of the roaster—be careful, there may be some hot water in the aluminium foil—remove the foil. Let the cheesecake come to room temperature on a cooling rack.
9. When the cake is cool, cover the top lightly and chill the cake for at least 4 hours. Chill it overnight for better flavour.