- Hi, guys.
I'm Alvin, and today, I'm going to be challenging myself
to make a lower calorie version
of The Cheesecake Factory Famous Fresh Strawberry Slice.
This video idea is heavily inspired by Joshua Weissman,
he does improved versions of fast foods
and chain restaurant foods.
Shout out to him.
It's incredible work.
The Cheesecake Factory's slice has around 1,000 calories
based on the nutritional info provided on their website.
I'm gonna see if I can make a slice
that is maybe less than half,
so around 200 to 400 calories.
I know that's gonna be a big jump,
but I'm excited to try the challenge.
For my approach, I'm gonna be using a recipe adapt
from Erin Clarke of Well Plated.
She has a recipe for a Greek yogurt cheesecake
that looks really promising.
I'm not trying to be healthy or anything,
I just think it'd be a fun challenge
to see if it's possible to even make a cheesecake slice
with significantly less calories.
So, here we go.
So, for the crust, the original Cheesecake Factory
has graham crackers, margarine, honey, salt,
vanilla, a bunch of other stuff.
So, for the crust, we're gonna go with
just normal old good graham cracker crumbs.
We're gonna add melted butter.
Rather not sacrifice the flavor here
and try to look for other areas
where maybe we can substitute some other stuff.
Little bit of salt.
Usually, a lot of cheesecake crusts,
it's graham cracker crumbs, butter, and sugar.
I'm not gonna add sugar because graham crackers
already have sugar in them.
So, I'm gonna not add sugar
just to see if we can reduce the calorie count.
This is a medium-ish springform pan.
I like to use a glass to push it around
instead of using my hands.
Maybe the sugar isn't only there for sweetness.
Maybe it also adds kind of like a binding element
to the crust so when it bakes it'll melt.
If the crust suddenly collapses or stuff like that,
my gut says it'll be because of the sugar.
But this is holding up well.
It's not falling apart, so, let's put this in the oven.
Our lower calorie version adjusted it
and we turned it into graham crackers, butter, and salt.
350 degrees, probably like 10 or 15 minutes until it's brown
and time to go make the filling.
The Cheesecake Factory original one had cream cheese,
salt, thickeners, sour cream, whole eggs, and sugar.
Not too many crazy things.
This is 16 ounces of reduced-fat cream cheese.
Always do cream cheese and sugar first.
This is why I beat the cream cheese and the sugar first.
You can see all these lumps kinda forming already.
This is pretty smooth.
So, now we're gonna add two cups of non-fat Greek yogurt.
Yogurt, it's white, it's thick,
it almost has the same physical properties as cream cheese.
But yogurt compared to cream cheese
has way less calories
and also has a really nice tang.
I'm someone that likes cheesecakes
that are a little more acidic or like the brighter side.
This substitution is perfect for me.
This texture is so beautiful.
So now we're adding a couple of eggs.
And eggs add nice flavors to desserts
which is why there's not much of an adjustment
that we can make here.
Add some vanilla.
Definitely looks like cheesecake batter.
Ours as reduced-fat cream cheese, it has sugar,
it has Greek yogurt non-fat, it has eggs, and vanilla.
Gonna add some lemon zest.
Just makes the whole thing smell,
taste, and feel a lot lighter.
I'm feeling pretty optimistic about this.
I just hope it doesn't like explode
in the oven for some reason.
Time to go get the crust.
(upbeat music)
No, it didn't break, yes!
Good job, dude.
The crust seemed to stay in tact.
It's crumbling a little bit,
so the sugar probably would have helped that,
but I would say that's a good cheesecake crust.
The only thing left is to put the filling inside of it.
This is probably one of my favorite moments
because you get this waterfall ribbon of cheesecake filling
and it just looks very pretty.
(majestic music)
Couldn't get the crust up that high.
But it'll still taste, hopefully it'll taste good.
Look at that.
Jiggle, jiggle, jiggle, jiggle, jiggle.
(laughs)
All right, let's go back this.
Baking this one at 275.
I'll check on you though, please work.
(upbeat music)
Oh, it kinda looks like a souffle.
Oh yep, I think that is done
and we are gonna take this jiggly guy out.
Whoa, that's crazy.
It kinda rose, that might be from the yogurt
just 'cause the yogurt has a lot of water
and could evaporate and make things rise.
I think this'll sink down though.
This is really cool, really interesting.
But yeah, I guess we'll just let this hang out
for a couple of hours, stick it in the fridge,
and we'll cut into it.
So, I actually let this cool overnight.
It kinda like shrunk down a bit in the middle.
I think it just it rose a lot and then it went down a lot.
It'll be a little bit messy
but I still think it'll taste really good.
Just open it up.
Yeah, not the cleanest edges,
but that is definitely a cheesecake.
I'm gonna get this guy onto a cutting board
just to make sure that we can go through evenly.
I'm gonna cut it with a knife in hot water.
The one from The Cheesecake Factory is pretty long.
It kinda goes more than halfway.
I just wanna make sure that the proportions are the same
so that the comparisons are fair
when it comes to the calories.
Wow, yeah, look at that.
Looks like a legitimate cheesecake.
I think the yogurt kept the center moist.
All right, let's plate this thing up.
This is the one by The Cheesecake Factory.
Didn't actually come with the whipped cream,
so I just got regular whipped cream from the store
and did a little swirl thing.
And the one I made, this is the lower calorie cheesecake,
I'm gonna try to make it garnished the same way
so that everything sort of matches up.
The topping for the strawberries,
the original Cheesecake Factory's topping
has strawberries, water, corn syrup, corn starch,
pectin, citric acid.
In order to sort of make a lower calorie version of this,
instead of like making a sugar syrup
and like dunking it and like making it a candy topping,
I think I can get that same effect if I just brush honey.
And I think with the honey,
it'll also make the whole cheesecake taste a lot lighter.
Instead of a full-fat sort of whipped topping,
I got some reduced-fat or light whipped topping,
which I think is pretty much fat-free.
I'm looking at it.
It's like 15 calories for two tablespoons, so yeah.
Let's just go for it.
Oh, that kinda went all over the place.
So, on this side, this is The Cheesecake Factory one,
the strawberry slice.
It's just a straight up classic delicious cheesecake,
glazed strawberries, and whipped cream.
Mine is a lower calorie with Greek yogurt,
with reduced-fat whipped topping and fresh strawberries
with honey instead of the syrup.
We were able to make a big difference
and I'm excited to see how it's gonna taste.
(upbeat music)
So, I wanna taste The Cheesecake Factory one first.
This is the OG one.
Oh, it's very soft.
It's very sweet.
Definitely taste the honey in the graham cracker base.
I think these strawberries are a little too sweet for me.
I think, you know, depending on your mood,
this is like your indulgence you just wanna go all out.
I have a good idea of what this one tastes like,
now I'm gonna eat this one.
Oh, that's good.
The crust is definitely not as sweet.
It's a little bit more crumbly.
I think that's because this other crust has sugar in it.
Although, the crust isn't as sweet,
it kinda makes me taste the cheesecake more,
which is really good.
I like the yogurt.
I think the yogurt and the lemon zest
really make this one, like a lot lighter.
Personally, I like the lighter taste of this.
But if you want something indulgent,
this might not be for you.
The whipped topping tastes the same,
no big difference there.
I 100% like the fresh strawberries with the honey.
That freshness from the strawberry is just so good.
It's a lot lighter, I just wanna eat more of it,
like I'm doing now, but look at this.
(upbeat music)
I'm definitely on a big sugar rush right now.
The original Cheesecake Factory had about 1,000 calories
if you ate the whole thing.
And the one I made, I think the end result is about 300-400
for the slice, so less than half, which is crazy.
In terms of components, crust on the original one
tastes a lot better.
I think without the sugar,
it's just kind of this crumbly, weird thing, which is fine.
I like the filling on the cheesecake that is lower calorie
'cause of the yogurt and the way it has more lemon.
For the topping, I also think fresh strawberries
with a little bit of honey,
I prefer that over the strawberries in the little syrup,
just cause I like the fresh fruit flavor.
I'm very surprised.
I didn't expect it to turn out this way.
I thought the lower calorie version one
was gonna be a far jump away from the original one.
Both of these cheesecakes, I think, are really great.
They're great for certain moods.
I think if you wanna indulge,
you should eat the original 1,000 calorie one.
And if you wanna try something lighter,
and try something more refreshing,
you can try the lower calorie one.
But both of these cheesecakes, I think, are fantastic.
(upbeat music)