1905.
A pivotal year in dessertdom. That’s right, I said it!
Pivotal.
Frank Epperson, at the tender age of 11, mixes powdered soda pop and water. He leaves the blend on the porch overnight in a cup with the stirring stick still in it.
Now this is San Francisco, not known for Little House on the Prairie style winters. But the temperature drops ‘way down that night and the concoction…freezes.
The next morning Frank pulls the stick out of the container and the frozen chunk comes with it.
The Popsicle is born.
I did a bunch of confusing online hopscotch and the nearest I can figure, the Creamsicle came along in the late 1920s or early 1930s.
Please correct me if I am wrong. max@cheesecakemax.com
This means that Creamsicles were around when I was a kid, but no matter. Farm life budgets did not embrace the hifalutin Creamsicle; regs Popsicles were more our speed. Preferably the double stick kind, so one Popsicle would cover two kids.
While we’re on the subject of dessert nostalgia, as kids we did visit the Pavilion, on Masten Lake. And for those of you with dessert nostalgia, I’m going offroad for just a minute.
The ice cream sandwich. Mmmmmm. This dessert was a square block of ice cream between two flat waffle cones. But big. Almost…obnoxious. Like the ice cream alone was an inch-plus thick. The cone pieces were substantial and had deep, regular indentations. They looked like square blond manhole covers.
And the ice cream they encompassed was divine. A massive chunk of vanilla, chocolate and strawberry. Neapolitan.
The lady behind the pickup window had a striped apron and those 50s catseye glasses. She would lean over and phumpf up on this massive hinged commercial freezer cover and flop it over on itself.
And she had to put the dessert together, mind you. Only the ice cream was in the freezer. Unwrap the frozen block and grab two manhole covers from a stack on the shelf. And put everything together.
Construction.
And there it was, just for you, the ice cream sandwich.
It started out crunchy, but the ice cream was a solid block so it didn’t squeeze out the sides. You had to bite through it. Then as the ice cream melted the wafers began to soften. You know how the very last bites of an ice cream cone are?
Like that.
Heaven.
I’ll tackle Mallo rolls in another post.
CREAMSICLE PLUS NO BAKE
The Creamsicle is a classic flavor combination; orange Popsicle and vanilla ice cream. It’s the kind of blend that’s going to make a great cheesecake.
Not to be confused with the Dreamsicle, which is ice milk. Not the same thing.
So we’re working with orange, vanilla, and we’re going to throw one more thing into the mix: no bake.
You know it’s time.
Down the line we’ll be testing some very simple, easy easy no bake recipes.
This one’s going to be more artisan. We’re going for layers of flavor, and that requires a little more effort.
If you’re a seasoned no bake baker, skip directly to the recipe card.
EQUIPMENT
8″ Fat Daddio two piece cheesecake pan.…the best pro cheesecake pan you’ll ever own
Baker’s Joy
measuring cups/spoons
Pyrex custard cups or small bowls
small mixing bowl
large mixing bowl
pastry blender
big wooden spoon
wire whisk
2 quart heavy duty saucepan
double boiler
big sharp knife
small thin-bladed knife
big serving spoon
small offset spatula
large offset spatula
teflon spatula
cutting board
aluminum foil
zester
INGREDIENTS
FOR THE CRUST
24 vanilla wafers
4 ounces white chocolate chips
2 tablespoons butter
teaspoon vanilla
pinch salt
FOR THE BATTER
SABAYON
2 egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cold water
1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin powder
MAIN BATTER
2 bricks Philly
3/4 cup creme fraiche
1 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch salt
FOR THE ORANGE CURD
2 navel oranges zest + juice
1 lemon juiced
orange juice (no pulp) to reach 1 3/4 cups total
1/2 cup + 1/4 cup sugar
5 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 egg yolks
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
LET’S TALK ABOUT INGREDIENTS FOR A SECOND
As always, the Philly bricks, creme fraiche and heavy cream should be room temperature. We want the batter to come together smoothly, no lumps.
The use of creme fraiche in the Eli’s recipe caught our interest…
Eli’s cheesecake has been a Chicago hallmark for a looong time. It’s mentioned in the same breath as Juniors and Lindy’s.
You know they gotta be doing somethin’ right…
When the Eli’s recipe book arrived it was a solid, impressive hard bound book with…get this…a recessed gold leaf title! When you ran your finger along the surface made by the closed pages, it was a beautiful even feel.
Turning it over in my hands, before I even opened it you could hear the celestial choir singing.
Inside, the pages were heavy and glossy, the kind you want to turn carefully. The photographs were…excellent.
Anyway, where was I?
Oh yes, the creme fraiche.
Eli’s tells us that sour cream may be substituted, but it won’t have that tanginess, that complexity of flavor.
We took them at their word.
We thought about making our own creme fraiche but didn’t. We’ll tackle this in a future post. It’s easy to do but that’s for another day.
Publix had two offerings, a plain creme fraiche and a Madagascar vanilla creme fraiche.
Madagascar vanilla beans?
Hooked.
Nothing says excellence like a dessert shot through with those little black vanilla specks.
And…we are trying to bump up the vanilla flavor wherever possible.
Now, the use of creme fraiche and sabayon…in a no bake cheesecake…seems excessive. Like a lot of work.
But when you taste…you will know.
And you’ll be glad you took the high road.
THE LAYERS ARE:
1–Vanilla wafer and white chocolate crust.
2–No bake filling from Eli’s of Chicago, time tested and featuring creme fraiche. Orange curd swirled throughout this layer.
PARADIGM SHIFTS
We’re making some procedural changes as we go along. Let me point out that we specialize in reinventing the wheel, and are figuring all this out as we journey.
So there’s going to be some newbie weirdness….
For example, cutting out the paper circle was all the rage in the beginning. Then…whaddya know? You can get 100 of them online for like seven bucks. When you’re planning on making tons of cheesecakes it only makes sense.
Same thing with crushing the Graham crackers (or cookies, or nuts) for the crust. It’s really cool to use a plastic bag and a rolling pin, but, you know, much simpler to whirl ’em up in a food processor.
And faster.
SO LET’S GET STARTED…
MAKE THE CRUST
The vanilla wafer crust, modified from a nut crust by Myra Chanin, from the book Mother Wonderful’s Cheesecake and Other Goodies.
We’re deleting the nuts and increasing the number of vanilla wafers. Her no bake crusts are held together with melted chocolate, creating a candy shell for the batter.
Can’t wait!
The first couple tries of the no bake Creamsicle cheesecake were made in a 9″ pan, but the results weren’t tall enough. It was only about as tall as a laying-down Frisbee. Want something that folks can see on the plate.
Enter the Fat Daddios 2-piece 8″ cheesecake pan. (Remember to select the 8X3)
Here, I’ll unbox it for you:
Ah, that feels right.
Don’t forget to wash it before you use it! (Wash gently by hand in hot soapy water.)
Assemble the pan, spray the inside with Bakers Joy, lay a parchment paper in there and Bakers Joy that too.
Whirl up the vanilla wafer cookies. Set aside.
Melt the white chocolate in the top of the double boiler along with the butter, vanilla and salt. Gently stir to combine while melting.
Combine the wafer crumbs and melted white chocolate in a mixing bowl and mix by hand. You’ll get walnut-size chunks.
Break the walnut-sized chunks down with the pastry blender. You’re going for peanut-sized chunks.
Dump the mixture into the Fat Daddios pan and spread around evenly with a small offset spatula.
Normally we pat the crust down with the backs of our fingers, but the first couple tries produced crusts that didn’t hold together. Sooooo…we are taking extreme measures here.
Use the bottom of a water glass to tamp down the crumb mixture. Work in circles starting in the center and moving out to the edges.
MAKE THE BATTER
Set the finished crust aside. Better yet, keep it in the refrigerator or freezer.
The batter has three separate preps that need to come together real fast all at once. We’re using a sabayon with gelatin to set up the batter, but we need to get the orange curd swirled in there before the batter actually sets.
And definitely before the orange curd sets.
WE’RE GOING TO:
–make the creme fraiche batter and set it aside
–make the orange curd and keep it warm
–make the sabayon for the batter last.
Then we’ll mix the sabayon into the batter, and before it sets up swirl in the orange curd.
Whew, got all that?
MAKE THE PHILLY/CREME FRAICHE PART OF THE BATTER
Beat the cream cheese on medium 2-3 minutes until smooth. Stop the mixer and spatula down the sides and bottom of the bowl.
At medium speed, add one by one the sugar, the creme fraiche and the heavy cream. Beat until smooth, another 2-3 minutes.
Stop the mixer and take the bowl off. Spatula down the bowl again, add the vanilla, and mix with the spatula until everything’s smooth.
Set aside.
MAKE THE ORANGE CURD
Zest the two oranges, then juice them, strain into bowl.
Juice the lemon, and strain into bowl.
Fine chop the orange zest and add to bowl.
Add orange juice (no pulp) to bring the liquid in the bowl to 1 3/4 cups, then into a heavyweight medium saucepan.
Add 1/2 cup sugar and the salt to the juice mixture.
Whisk the cornstarch and sugar together in a mixing bowl. Add the egg yolks and whisk until the mixture lightens in color, about 2-3 minutes.
Bring the saucepan with the juice, sugar and salt to a simmer. Slowly pour about half the simmering juice mixture into the egg mixture, whisking steadily. This will temper the eggs.
Pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan and, with medium heat, whisk the mixture until it boils and thickens and then about a minute more. The thickening should happen pretty quickly.
Remove the saucepan from the heat and whisk in the butter.
Orange curd!
Leave the curd in the saucepan to keep it warm while we (quickly):
MAKE THE SABAYON
Put the tablespoon cold water in a custard cup or similar small bowl, and sprinkle the gelatin on top
Whisk the egg yolks and the sugar together in the top bowl until fluffy ribbons form. (The Eli’s instructions say when the mixture reaches 150 degrees but good luck measuring that.)
Remove the top bowl from the double boiler, set it on a towel or teflon trivet and whisk in the bloomed gelatin.
….ANNNND….HERE WE GO!
Immediately spatula the sabayon into the batter and fold them together. Don’t overdo the folding but make sure the sabayon and Philly batter are fully combined. We want all parts of the batter to set.
Pour half the batter over the crust. With a big cooking spoon or shallow ladle put dollops of curd into the batter and swirl them throughout with a chopstick.
Pour the remaining batter on top and dollop in the remaining orange curd, again swirl around with a chop stick.
The orange curd is more dense than the batter, so it should all sink beneath the surface, leaving a smooth white top. If you see any orange parts push ’em under with the chopstick.
Cover loosely with aluminum foil and and into the refrigerator to set up overnight.
And let me just say that two days in the refrigerator will intensify the flavors even more.
BUSTIN’ OUT
Run a thin sharp knife around the edge of the cheesecake so it will release evenly. Place the cheesecake pan on an inverted small mixing bowl. Working gently around the edge with both hands, begin to press down.
It’s….alive!
SERVING
With a big offset spatula, transfer the cheesecake from the metal disc to a cardboard round. You could leave it on the disc but you’ll mark it when you start cutting.
Use a cardboard round so you don’t have raised plate borders interfering with a clean cut. You want to be able to cut smoothly all the way down through the crust.
Also, no garnish for this cheesecake, just the intensified flavors of orange and vanilla. We actually bought a can of Mandarin orange segments but decided against it.
A FEW THOUGHTS
We’ve lost track of the number of tries to get this cheesecake right. Lotta newbie mistakes.
But the basic idea was: intense vanilla vs. intense orange. Have them balance each other. And create a lingering….Creamsicle taste.
Initially we wanted two distinct layers, like a Creamsicle would look when you bite into it. But wanting a taller cheesecake made for problems, especially with a top layer of orange curd.
The sabayon batter wasn’t firm enough to support a thick layer of curd. See the bulge?
We could kinda sorta live with the bulge but the curd top layer wouldn’t stay put; it would slide off to one side like my Uncle Henry’s toupee at family dinners.
Finally: OK, the curd has a lot more structure than the batter, let’s give up on the idea of distinct layers. Honeycomb the curd into the batter and, when it sets up, it will actually support the no bake batter.
And you’ll get the orange/vanilla combination with every bite.
Done.
Also, the vanilla wafer crust is covered in depth in another post…there’s also a quick YouTube video. Myra Chanin’s book rates right up there with Eli’s, and it’s going directly into the game plan.
Enjoy with:
Light roast coffee, or maybe…asti, champagne, German riesling, late harvest riesling, ice wine, orange muscat, Grand Marnier, ice cold water….
…and a summer nap. Stretch out on the couch in front of the YouTube channel and listen to a half hour of Joe Pera Talks You To Sleep.
Nice.
LINKS:
What to Eat with What You Drink
Mother Wonderful’s Cheesecake and Other Goodies
