Question About Adjusting a Cheesecake Recipe

[ChristineVA]

A few weeks ago I made a cheesecake using the recipe on the box of Philadelphia Cream Cheese. It was VERY good and it made one of those "tall" cheesecakes. The recipe contains five (yes five) boxes of cream cheese, some eggs, other miscellaneous, usual stuff, and 1 cup of sour cream. The *one* thing I did not like about this cheesecake was that when eating it, I could always get a minor taste of that sour cream with every bite. To me, it kind of gave it a very minor, sour taste. I've made other cheesecakes before without sour cream and prefer them, but I really like this recipe overall. So, this week I am making it for someone's birthday at the office. I would like to omit the sour cream but I don't know the "science" of what that would do to the cheesecake. I don't have the recipe handy but I will post it later if anyone needs to look at it. Thanks!
Christine

[Chiffonade]

My standard cheesecake recipe formula is 3 lbs. of CC to (depending on flavoring agent) one cup of heavy cream (light, it ain't). I don't use sour cream at all. Simply sub either heavy cream or more CC in for the sour cream. The chemical makeup and structure of the cake won't suffer and you won't have any sour taste.

[ChristineVA]

Do you think creme fraiche would work in place of the sour cream? I happen to have some on hand that I can't figure out what to do with it.
Thanks,
Christine

[Leonard]

Thanks for your review of this cheesecake. I just cut this recipe out of a magazine. It was full page ad for Phila. CC. I am curious, did your guests notice the taste of sour cream???? Is the texture smooth?? Is it a heavy cheesecake???? I'm curious about all these points since I don't want to invest my time & money on all the ingredients if it's not worth it.

[ChristineVA]

Originally posted by Leonard
Thanks for your review of this cheesecake. I just cut this recipe out of a magazine. It was full page ad for Phila. CC. I am curious, did your guests notice the taste of sour cream???? Is the texture smooth?? Is it a heavy cheesecake???? I'm curious about all these points since I don't want to invest my time & money on all the ingredients if it's not worth it.

Leonard,
If my guests noticed the taste, they did not tell me. I did mention to one of the people eating it and he did not seem to notice it. It is just something that stood out to me ONLY because I have been experimenting around with various plain cheesecakes. It was still pretty good and I ate it for days!!!

The texture was very smooth and, as for heaviness, I would give it about a 7 out of 10. I have had denser ones but they were the "shorter" cheesecakes. I found the denseness and creaminess to be just about right. Also, I have always cooked my cheesecakes in a waterbath. I did not do that this time because the recipe did not call for it. I think the water bath gives a smoother texture and prevents cracking. I will use the water bath when I make the cheesecake on Tuesday.
Christine

[Leonard]

Christine: Thanks for the info. I have a recipe for a "Turtle Cheesecake" that is wonderful. It's from a cookbook I got years ago. That is usually the recipe I make. I too am a believer in a water bath. I think it definitely produces a smoother, crack free cheesecake. I will try this recipe the next time I want to make a cheesecake. Happy Baking!

[ChristineVA]

Just to let you all know that my recipe adjustment worked wonderfully. Instead of the one cup of sour cream that the Philly Cream Cheese recipe called for, I used 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream and 1/2 cup of creme fraiche. It was delicious. I had so many compliments from my co-workers. They all felt that it was so good that I could bake cheesecakes professionally for restaurants!!

I used the waterbath this time and I had the most beautiful light gold color on the top of the cheesecake. The only downfall was that the crust kind of solidified. I don't know if my pan is getting old and some steam got through all my foil, but the crust lost its *crumbliness* and was kind of shiny. Maybe I used to much butter. But it was still very good.
Christine