Spotted cow baked vanilla cheesecake

My Wishlist

I need several new whitegoods and appliances:

1. A new washer/dryer because the dryer part of the combo no longer works (though I don't mind drying clothes outside on the line, in summer, at least).

2. A stand mixer because I have puny arms and holding a handheld (plastic) mixer for even a small length of time is exhausting.

3. A 28cm non-stick frypan (Jamie Oliver Professional Series, please) because my current frypan's non-stick coating has rubbed off and it's no longer non-stick (and I've probably ingested several grams of non-stick coating in the process)

4. A new oven because the current oven has hotspots that flare unexpectedly, resulting in unattractive lesions on my baked goods...

Case in point - this is my all-time favourite cheesecake recipe, and it's been disfigured by my temperamental oven.  I really should have let it preheat for a bit longer before putting the cheesecake in, but I just didn't realise it would flare up and burn the top of the cheesecake.  Now my cheesecake looks like a weird piebald cow or something.  And not even some perfect strawberries could cover up the damage.  Just as well it did not affect the taste!

Regardless, you must give this cheesecake a try - it really is the best and so easy and classic to boot.  But make sure to get on your oven's good side beforehand.

Footnote: I've written about this lovely cheesecake before, here, although the pictures this time around are hopefully better.

Vintage Vanilla Cheesecake

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

The base:

1 cup Arnotts Scotch Finger or Nice biscuit crumbs (about 9 Nice biscuits, crushed in food processor)

6 tablespoons melted butter

The filling:
375g cream cheese (light cream cheese is fine), softened
2 eggs
½ cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup light sour cream

Method
1.  To make the base:  Line a 20cm springform cake tin with aluminium foil, leaving an overhang to lift out the cheesecake. Combine all the biscuit crumbs with the melted butter and and press firmly into the cake tin.  Place in the refrigerator while you make the filling.
2.  To make the filling:  Beat the cream cheese a little until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, sugar and vanilla and beat until smooth. Stir in sour cream and mix well. Spoon into the base and bake in the centre of a pre-heated 120 deg C oven for 35 minutes or until the filling is set.
3. Remove from the oven and cool in the tin on a cake rack. Refrigerate if not serving straight away.
4. Serve at room temperature.
recipe adapted from Vogue Entertaining (Oct/Nov 1989).

Ingredients, including light cream cheese, Nice biscuits, melted butter, eggs, sugar, vanilla, sour cream, a reliable oven

These strawberries were utterly perfect (in taste and appearance), though the same could not be said for the spotted cheesecake

Never mind, it still tastes wonderful, and so creamy and smooth.

I was so disappointed with the blasted oven that I made another cheesecake the following week.  This time, I kept an eagle eye on the baking, and made sure the oven temperature was stable before putting the cheesecake in.  Ah, that's better...