Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Light Apricot Cheesecake

Yesterday was Abah's birthday and few days back was Umi's. So happy birthday to you both! May your lives will be filled with joy and laughter! :)

My sister and I were tired of thinking of what to bake for them (every year we would make them something and I guess this year was the simplest). Since I bake almost every day, now that I am still having my break, I ran out of ideas. We ate everything, I mean everything that we felt like eating. So when their birthdays came, we just couldn't think of any recipes. I asked Umi what she wanted and she said she only wanted a trifle. So that was what I made her, a dark chocolate cake layered with softly whipped cream and strawberries. It was simple yet very delicious!


When Abah's birthday came a few days later (which was yesterday), again, I asked Abah what he wanted. Does he want a cake or pudding or anything? 
And then he said, "a cheesecake, a New York Cheesecake!"
I was like, "you want a New York Cheesecake? Are you sure? That's a very dense cake." I have never baked New York Cheesecake but I know that we are going to have a hard time finishing the cake, because that's what always happen when we buy this kind of cheesecake from Secret Recipe.
Then he changed his mind and said he wanted something light and not very cheesy.

I then started thinking about the Japanese Cheesecake but that would be too simple for his birthday - or so I thought. So I decided to make this light apricot cheesecake, inspired by my grandmother's cake that she baked last Eid. She did tell me the recipe for her cake but I couldn't remember it. All I know is that she boiled the dried apricots before turning them into puree. However, I didn't bother doing that, so I just blend it with some milk and greek yogurt. 


I tweaked this recipe and made use of what I have. I didn't have sour cream so I just used greek yogurt instead. And I did change the measurements because I wanted to add the apricots. In this recipe, I used dried apricots which we bought when we went for Umrah the other day. I am not very sure whether fresh apricots could be used or not. Perhaps, it needs to be a very ripe one. 


Recipe (Light Apricot Cheesecake) :

Crust

  • 120g biscuits (I used Speculoos), crushed
  • 3 tbsp melted butter
Method:

1. Prepare a 9-inch springform pan.
2. Mix the butter and biscuits together. Press onto the base of the pan. Refrigerate.

Filling
  • 250g cream cheese, softened
  • 120g dried apricots, cut into smaller pieces
  • 3 tbsp milk
  • 2/3 cup greek yogurt
  • 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp caster sugar
  • 3 egg yolks
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 tsp cornflour
  • 3 egg whites
Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 160C. Pour some water in a pan to be put onto the lower rack of the oven which will help to prevent cracks in the cake.
2. Blend the apricots together with the milk and greek yogurt. Set aside. I was left with little chunks of apricots, and I like it that way.
3. Beat the cream cheese, 1/2 cup caster sugar and vanilla. Beat the egg yolks, cornflour and the mixture of apricot yogurt. Set aside.
4. In another clean bowl, beat the egg whites with 1 tbsp sugar until stiff peaks. 
5. Fold in the egg whites into the cream cheese mixture.
6. Pour over the crust in the springform pan. Put the pan in the middle rack of the oven. 
7. Bake for 40 minutes and let it cool in the oven (door closed) for one hour.
8. Then, let it stay in the oven with the door slightly ajar until it has cooled completely.
9. Refrigerate for a few hours before serving.


7 comments:

Nami | Just One Cookbook said...

What a beautiful cheesecake! I also made Japanese style cheesecake over the weekend but mine doesn't include yogurt. I would love to try your version next time!

aishahias said...

Well, it isn't as soft and fluffly as the Japanese style cheesecake but isn't as dense as the normal cheesecake too. I'm not sure how to describe it, sort of in the middle. But it's good. :)

Grub Snapper said...

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Grub Snapper said...

Hi Aishahias,

This cheesecake looks delicious! Your food blog and photography is really impressive! If you’re interested, we would like to send you an invitation to join our new invite-only food community that we have just launched.

You can request an invite at http://grubsnapper.com/request-invite and we’ll email you a link to join.

Grub Snapper is a community to share and discover extremely delicious recipes and food. You can vote and comment on other members' recipes and follow their activity. We also hope our community will help you promote your food blog to other foodies like us.

We hope to see you soon :)

Cheers,
Patrick
CEO & Founder of Grub Snapper
http://grubsnapper.com
http://twitter.com/grubsnapper
http://facebook.com/grubsnapper

Unknown said...

Save me some k sis! Don't go finishing it all up!! :D

MyFudo™ said...

Can't wait to try...The "real" cheesecake can be really too much for me at times, it'd be nice to have something a little lighter but as delicious as the cheesecake I grew up with. This sounds just perfect!

aishahias said...

K.Ina
There's still a quarter of the cake left. sempat kot. hehe

MyFudo
I hope you like it! :D