- Hi, I'm Vanessa, I'm a pastry chef.
And I love cheesecake.
I make it for special occasions,
holidays, and even if I just have some extra time.
I feel like there's always time for cheesecake.
So today I'm gonna teach you how
to make a 20-minute cheesecake, a two-hour cheesecake,
and a two-day cheesecake.
So let's get started!
First we're gonna make our 20-minute cheesecake.
This is perfect for last minute dinner plans
where you can make it right before dinner
and then it'll be set right in time for dessert.
I've got some cream cheese here, some sugar,
and I have a double boiling pot.
That way you don't burn your cream cheese or your sugar
while you're melting it.
And we're gonna give this just a quick stir.
Just incorporate all the ingredients.
While that's melting, I'm gonna bloom my gelatin
by adding the gelatin to some water.
This is gonna active the gelatin.
And now I'm just gonna stir my cream cheese and my sugar,
get it nice and melted.
You'll see the cream cheese start to turn to more of a
off-white, that's when you know that your sugar is melting
in with your cream cheese.
We're gonna add our lemon juice, our vanilla,
and our lemon zest.
The vanilla's really gonna bring the flavor out
of the lemon.
And then you also wanna be able to get
that fresh lemon flavor.
If you have a little bit of lumps,
you can switch from a spatula into a whisk.
The best cheesecakes are nice and smooth,
have a nice texture and consistency.
So now we've got all of our lumps out,
everything's melted and incorporated.
We're gonna add our gelatin and let our gelatin melt.
I'm gonna put this in the freezer to let it cool off.
Okay, so I've let this chill for about five minutes.
Now I'm gonna add our store bought whipped cream
and fold it in in increments.
You don't wanna stir it, because that takes the air
out of your whipped cream.
So we're just folding it in.
Mm, I can definitely smell the lemon zest.
You're gonna see the change in color
and you're also gonna see that your mixture is getting nice
and light and airy.
And we're gonna put it into our prepared mini pie shells.
You just want one big scoop.
You don't wanna mess with it too much
'cause again, you don't want the air to come out.
Okay, so now I'm gonna put these in the freezer
for 15 minutes until they're set
and then we'll be ready to serve.
I love a little garnish to really brighten up
the cheesecake, so we've got some lemon wedges here.
And I'm gonna add some fresh mint.
I love the color and it's really gonna liven up
the flavor.
And there you have it, a perfect lemon cheesecake
for any type of social gathering or just for yourself.
It's zesty, it's creamy and smooth, light and airy.
Perfect.
Let's have a bite.
Mm.
Super light, airy, fresh, zesty.
All the best components.
If you have a little bit more time,
I'm gonna teach you how to make a two-hour cheesecake.
For the two-hour cheesecake,
it's definitely more traditional.
Something that most people are used to having.
It's got nice, creamy texture,
really thick, and of course, we're gonna top it off
with strawberries for a nice presentation for your guests.
So the first thing we're gonna do
is have graham cracker crumbs.
Then we're gonna add our sugar.
Just enough to sweeten your crust.
And then we're gonna add our melted butter,
give it a quick stir so everything
is nice and hydrated and incorporated.
This is gonna be the crust.
I love that we have the pre-prepared graham cracker crumbs,
because when I was growing up
I used to have to crush them by hand
and it was so time consuming.
So now we're gonna put our graham crackers mixture
into our pie pan.
You wanna add just a little at a time
just because you don't wanna over-fill your pan.
We're gonna spread it out.
And then you're gonna start to press with your hand
all the way up the sides.
You wanna be firm, because you don't want it to come apart
when you're slicing your cheesecake.
Alrighty, so now we have our prepared crust pan.
We're gonna put this in the oven on 350
for five to 10 minutes, just till it's nice and firm.
So now I'm gonna show you how to make the filling.
We're gonna use a stand mixer,
or you can use a hand mixer if you have one at home.
We're gonna add our cream cheese
and we're gonna mix our cream cheese just for a second,
because we want it to get nice and smooth.
Then we're gonna add our sour cream.
This is gonna really help add flavor and texture
to your cheesecake.
I'm gonna put this at a medium speed
just so it gets nice and mixed up.
Be sure to scape down the sides of your bowl
while you're mixing to incorporate all your ingredients
and you don't get any chunks in your cream cheese.
And finally I'm gonna add the sugar.
Alrighty, now that our cheesecake batter is nice and smooth,
we're gonna add the eggs one at a time.
You wanna make sure you add it one at a time
because you want your eggs to be fully absorbed
and incorporated before you add the next egg.
If it doesn't fully absorb and incorporate,
you can get a really soggy and ill-mixed cheesecake,
and no one wants that.
And of course, vanilla for flavor.
Now that our cream cheese filling has been mixed
and our crust is set and baked,
we're gonna just combine the two.
Pour right into the pie filling,
right in the middle.
Ooh, that looks so good.
Super creamy texture.
No lumps, I love to see that.
Now we're gonna put it in the oven on 300
for 45 minutes to an hour.
You wanna take it out when it still has a nice jiggle to it
because it's gonna keep cooking as it cools.
Now we have time to make a strawberry cheesecake topping.
So first you're gonna take your strawberries
and you're gonna put them in your skillet.
You're also wanna add your sugar.
Sugar is gonna help pull out the juices
of your strawberries.
We're also gonna add some corn syrup.
The corn syrup's gonna give it a nice color and gloss
and also some added sweetness.
You're gonna cook this down,
you still wanna keep your strawberries intact,
we're just making some nice glazed strawberries.
Of course you can switch this out to like blueberries
or blackberries or raspberries,
but strawberries are the best.
We're gonna let them continue cooking.
We've got some water here.
We're gonna add it to our corn starch
and give it a nice whisk.
This is gonna make our strawberries topping nice and thick
so you can pour it and serve it right on top
of your cheesecake.
So it should thicken up fairly quickly.
You wanna cook your corn starch until it gets a nice,
glossy color again.
For about two to three minutes.
This looks so good!
Now we're ready to transfer it into a heat-proof,
safe bowl.
We're gonna chill it in the refrigerator
until it's nice and cool.
And we'll be ready to top it to our favorite cheesecake.
All right, so we have our perfect two-hour cheesecake
right here, nice and set.
We let it chill for an hour.
So we're just gonna put our strawberries right on top.
And we're just gonna spread it out.
This looks so good, I love the gloss
and the shine on the strawberries.
The corn syrup really helped.
And there you have it, a two-hour cheesecake
with a lovely strawberry topping.
Mm, that is delicious.
The vanilla and the strawberry all blends in together.
It's got super glossy strawberries,
a traditional style cheesecake that everyone's gonna love.
Stay with me for our two-day cheesecake.
It's indulgent, decadent, and totally worth it.
The first thing we're gonna do is make our
dark chocolate cookie crust.
Take your dark chocolate cocoa powder,
put it in a bowl.
Then you're gonna add your flour and your sugar.
And give this just a good mix,
just to get it well-incorporated.
We're gonna add a couple of cubes of cold butter.
And you just wanna cut it with your fork,
getting it nice and incorporated.
You want it to look almost like coarse sand.
You're gonna add your egg
and you're gonna add your vanilla extract.
These are the only liquids that you're gonna need
to make your dough.
And it should come together pretty quickly.
You're gonna add your pinch of salt.
The salt is a flavor enhancer.
So it's really gonna bring out the flavors of the vanilla
and bring out the flavors of the chocolate.
So once it's all incorporated and it starts to form a ball,
be sure to use a little bit of bench flour
to dust onto your table
dump all of your mixture onto the table
and we're just gonna knead this for a few minutes.
If it starts to get a little sticky on your table,
just add just a little bit more bench flour.
But you don't wanna add too much,
because you can dry out your dough.
You know that it's kneaded enough when everything
is incorporated and you've got a nice, soft ball
that isn't too sticky and isn't too tough.
We're gonna wrap this up
and let it chill in the refrigerator
for about an hour.
So now it's nice and set.
I like to use powdered sugar to dust my surface
because it keeps your dough from sticking on the surface
and also it keeps it a little sweet too.
So we're just gonna roll it out into a nice round.
So I'm making it kind of a weird shape,
but it'll work just fine.
You wanna measure this out into an eighth of an inch.
We've got a three inch cutter.
We're gonna cut our rounds.
You're gonna get about eight to nine rounds
with this amount of dough.
For the crust you're gonna need about seven.
And I love making it this size and this thickness
because it cooks faster and more even.
And you're able to crumble them up in the food processor
much faster.
Alrighty, so we're gonna bake these on 350
for about 15 to 20 minutes.
And we'll be back.
Okay, so I've got my cookies nice and cool.
Now we're gonna put them directly into the food processor.
Give a nice little pulse.
We're gonna add our powdered sugar, give it a few pulses.
Now we're gonna add our melted butter.
And this is gonna crumble up really nicely.
So it's nice and incorporated, the color is nice and dark,
and now we're gonna put it into our springform pan.
Note that we put some aluminum foil at the base
of your springform pan, because we're gonna put
your pan directly into your water bath.
That's gonna help set your cheesecake and cook it evenly.
And just like hour two-hour cheesecake,
we're gonna firmly press it down on the bottom.
So now we're gonna chill this while we create our fillings.
So we're gonna make our caramel sauce that's gonna go
into our filling and be a lovely topping
to go on top of our cheesecake.
We're cooking our sugar on a medium heat.
We're getting it nice and caramelized.
You want it to melt fully.
So since we're using a dry caramel,
which means without water,
you're gonna wanna stir constantly
to evenly distribute the heat to the sugar.
So it's getting nice and liquidy now
and you can see the color is starting to change.
It's starting to get to a nice brown.
But we want it to cook a little darker.
Cooking the sugar should only take about three
to five minutes total.
So now that we're at a nice, dark amber color,
you're gonna add your butter.
We're gonna let our butter melt.
We're gonna add our heavy cream.
Give it a few stirs, let it incorporate,
and then in just a moment you'll have some really
glossy caramel sauce.
If it gets too hot while you're incorporating the butter
and the heavy cream, go ahead and turn it down to low
or off, it should be hot enough for you
to continue melting the butter and the cream.
So there you have your caramel sauce.
So I'm gonna let this cool to room temperature
and then we're gonna make our filling.
First we're gonna add our cream cheese.
You wanna make sure that it's nice and mixed up
before you add any other ingredients
or it's gonna get really chunky.
(machine whirring)
Then you're gonna add your sour cream.
(machine whirring)
Next we're gonna add our sugar.
So now we're gonna add, one at a time, our eggs.
You wanna have that nice,
off-white, golden color.
Next we're gonna add our vanilla
and our white chocolate.
You wanna make sure that you're white chocolate is melted
to room temperature.
Too hot, and it's gonna cook your cheesecake,
too cold and it's gonna seize.
I add white chocolate because it really adds a nice,
full flavor, makes it really decadent and rich.
So we're gonna divide everything into these two bowls.
We're gonna put all of the chocolate.
Same as the white chocolate, we melted it at low-power.
And then we're gonna use only half a cup of the caramel.
We're gonna save the rest and to put as a topping.
Then we're gonna take two cups of the filling
and put it in each of the bowls.
It's okay if they're not completely level.
We're doing this because we're dividing it into three layers
so we have a nice three-layered cheesecake.
So let's incorporate the melted chocolate
into the cheesecake batter.
And now we're gonna stir our caramel.
The difference between caramel and caramel is
that caramel is a sauce, caramel is a candy.
Some people use them a little interchangeably though.
Ooh, look at that pretty color.
I love this color.
So now that looks nice and incorporated.
We've got our springform pan,
and we're gonna layer our filling.
We're putting the chocolate in first
because it has the most density.
And we're gonna smooth this layer out,
nice and even in our springform pan.
Now the next two layers, you wanna make sure you pour slowly
that way it settles on top and it doesn't zebra in
and mix in with the other layer.
You can even kind of pour it on top in a circular motion.
So we're just smoothing it out,
not to put too much pressure on the batter.
And then finally, we're gonna add our top layer,
which is our white chocolate layer.
Again, you kind of just wanna pour it on top and around.
And so we're just gonna smooth this out
just so gently.
Now that it's all smooth,
I'm gonna put this in a water bath.
You want a nice pan size
that's gonna fit the entire cheesecake.
Place it into here.
And then you're gonna get some hot water
and you're gonna pour it just about
one third to one half of the way up.
It just helps cook your cheesecake more evenly
and also it's gonna keep it from forming a dome
and cracking.
So we're gonna put this in the oven on 300
for about two hours.
And then once it's all cooked through,
you're gonna put it in the refrigerator over night.
You need that full chill all the way through
so you can slice it perfectly and it sets really nicely.
Okay, so now we're gonna make candied pecans.
I like to do this on the first day,
that way you can get it out of the way,
let it cool and set.
Ready for day two and you can put it as your topping.
We've got our water here.
We've got our sugar.
And we've got some corn syrup.
This is on a medium high heat.
You don't want it too hot because you don't wanna cook your
sugar too fast.
You wanna cook your sugar for about three to five minutes.
Once you get a nice glossy color,
you can add your pecans.
This time you really wanna stir this constantly,
make sure you kind of keep them separated
so they don't stick together too much.
One your pecans are nice and coated and glossy,
we're gonna take a parchment lined pan
and you're just gonna pour it right on the sheet.
Be sure to separate your pecans out while they set.
Take your cheesecake out of the oven,
put it in the refrigerator, and then take a nap.
You deserve it.
We'll come back on day two and finish off our cheesecake.
All right so it's day two,
I've removed the cheesecake from the foil
and the water bath.
It's nice and set.
And you're just gonna pop it open right from the bottom,
it should come right out.
We have melted our chocolate
and we've also just reheated our caramel from yesterday.
First you're gonna drizzle the chocolate.
You wanna do like a zigzag.
And you wanna make sure that the consistency is liquidy
but also thick so it holds.
You add your pecans.
They look so crunchy, so crispy.
I'm gonna use all of these.
There's no such thing as too many pecans.
And once you've topped it with your pecans,
you're gonna seal it with your caramel sauce.
This time I like to do it the other way.
To give it a nice pattern.
That looks so good.
Okay, so there you have it.
You've got your two-day cheesecake.
Your friends are gonna be so impressed.
I'm gonna give myself a very healthy portion.
Look at the slice that's coming out, oh my gosh.
So pretty.
Dig into all these layers.
Ooh!
Mm, mm.
Totally worth it.
You can totally taste all the flavors
of the white chocolate, of the vanilla, the caramel,
the chocolate, the nice bitter, crunchy crust.
It's so sweet but it's super balanced.
That's what I love about it,
it's not like an over sugar blob of cheesecake.
It really is a perfect level of flavor.
So this was wonderful and delicious.
I really hope you enjoyed making
all the different cheesecakes.
We made a 20-minute lemon cheesecake,
a delicious quick and easy two-hour strawberry cheesecake,
and of course, the wonderfully decadent
two-day turtle cheesecake.
Let me know which one was your favorite
in the comments below.
And don't forget, there's always time for cheesecake.
- [Man] Oh yes!
(upbeat jazz music)