Baking Obsession

The cake is creamy, melting in your mouth, pretty looking, easy to make and, more important, it doesn’t leave you with this heavy feeling in your stomach like the most of cheesecakes do.

Makes one 9-inch cake, 10 to 12 servings

For the crust:

• 1 ¼ cups graham cracker crumbs
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted, plus additional for greasing a pan later

For the filling:

• 2 ½ packages (8 oz each) regular cream-cheese
• ½ cup plus 2 tbsp sugar
• 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1/8 tsp Kosher salt
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 2 large eggs plus 1 large egg yolk
• ½ cup sour cream

For the topping:

• Lemon curd

Make the crust:

Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the middle of the oven. Cut a parchment circle to fit the bottom of the 9-inch springform pan.

Combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and salt in a small bowl. Stir in the melted butter with a fork until well combined. Press the mixture evenly into the bottom of the pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack while you prepare the filling.

Make the filling, bake the cake:

Lower the oven temperature to 325F. Beat the cream cheese at medium-low speed with an electric mixer until creamy, about 2 minutes. With the mixer on low, gradually add the sugar, then the flour, and salt. Don’t forget to scrape the sides of the bowl. Mix in the vanilla, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, and then add the yolk, scraping the bowl. Add the sour cream working on the low speed. Do not overbeat.

Brush the sides of the spring form with melted butter. Wrap the pan tightly in a double layer of heavy-duty aluminum foil. Pour the filling into the pan. Place the springform in a large roasting pan and pour hot water into the roasting pan so that it comes about halfway up the springform. Transfer carefully to the oven and bake until the filling is just set, about 45 minutes. If the edges start to pull away from the sides of the pan sooner than that, remove it from the oven. Immediately remove the pan from the water. Place on a wire rack to cool to room temperature.

Warm the lemon curd until it is pourable by placing a bowl with the curd into a saucepan filled with hot water, stir. Pour the curd over the surface of the cheesecake, tilt from side to side to form a even layer. Cover the springform with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight. To unmold the cake, blow warm air on the sprinform using a hairdryer or place a hot towel around the pan to loosen the cake from the pan. Run a thin knife around the edges and remove the outer part of the pan. To serve, slide the cake onto a serving plate with the parchment. Don’t eat the parchment though.

Adapted from Susan Spungen