I'm in the small, cool kitchen of my parents' old apartment. The sun is beating through the side window, exposing all the dust bunnies that are making their way through the air, heating up the countertops. I walk around in shorts and a tank top, my feet bare across the cold marble floor. Despite all this, beads of sweat gather at the back of my neck as I pull the Israeli cheesecake out of the fridge, my mind clouding with visions of dropped cakes and spilled disasters. Yet I manage to take it out safely, to rest it on the table undisturbed. As I take out a knife and cut out a big, tall piece of Israeli cheesecake, my lips curl into an involuntary smile: I can already imagine its tangy, cloud-like taste.
Some of you may think you know cheesecake. You've had it a million times at breakfast buffets, brunches, Sunday dinners. You are used to its baked custard texture, to the soggy bottom, to the heavy, cloying feeling it leaves in your mouth. Some of you may love it, but many of you don't. In most cases, you stay away from it for fear it will go straight to your hips, your thighs, your stomach.
Well, my friends, I'm here to tell you that you don't know jack. And if you know Jack, you sure as hell don't know cheesecake.
The first time I tasted cheesecake in the United States, as a 17-year-old girl on her first trip across the ocean, I thought they had got it wrong. There was no way that heavy syrup-drizzled baked monstrosity was the local version of my favourite confectionary creation. I felt sorry for myself, for having to eat it, and sorry for others, for not knowing what a joy eating a cold piece of chilled Israeli cheesecake could be.
Because Israeli cheesecake is nothing like the cheesecakes of North America. In place of the cream cheese-sugar-egg bricks of your nightmares, Israeli cheesecake is light, tangy and airy, like a dip in a cool pool on a hot summer's day. It involves no baking, just a lengthy rest in a cold fridge, and requires about 10 minutes of active work. And the result - a cake as light as air, with a zesty aftertaste and a buttery crumb topping - is so much more than you could ever want from a cheesecake. It's a dream come true, and delivered to you in the form of a beautiful slice of cake.
So if there's one thing you make from this blog, I want it to be this cake. For the 10 minutes of work it requires, you will not believe the results. You will want to replicate this taste forever and ever, sear it into your brains and share it with all of your friends and family. Because if you like cheesecake, you sure as hell are going to love Israeli cheesecake.
So once you're done reading this post, I want you to RUN INTO THE KITCHEN and immediately make this cake. And when you bite into it the following day, your fork sinking into the cool batter like a warm knife cutting through butter, every molecule in your body will thank you for the pleasure.
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Light-as-air Israeli cheesecake with crumb topping
Ingredients
- 200 g vanilla petit beurre biscuits or Graham Crackers broken into pieces
- 100 g almonds optional; if you're allergic to nuts, use another 100 grams of biscuits
- 100 g butter melted
- 500 ml whipping cream
- 1 cup sugar
- 80 g instant vanilla pudding
- 200 ml high-fat sour cream
- 500 grams 10% yogurt Mediterranean style/ ricotta cheese/ quark cheese/ 5% Philadelphia cream cheese
- Zest of one orange or one lemon
Instructions
- If using 10% yogurt, ricotta cheese or quark cheese, drain them in a colander covered with cheesecloth for a few hours, or even overnight.
- Process biscuits and almonds in a food processor until they are finely ground. Mix in melted butter, and stir until well combined and lumps are formed (I found that stirring with clean hands worked best, and it helps to gauge the texture).
- Line a springform pan with parchment paper for ease of removal (you can use anything 9"/23cm and over; 8" will produce a very tall cake) . Cover the bottom with ⅔ of the crumb batter, making a crust.
- Using a hand-held blender or a standing blender, whip whipping cream, sugar and vanilla pudding until a stable cream is formed. Add sour cream, drained yogurt and citrus zest, and continue blending until stable. Pour mixture into cake form, and top with remaining crumb mixture.
- Cool in fridge for a minimum of 4 hours, or ovenight.
Berta says
This looks delicious! Certainly a nice alternative to the heavy desserts that sometimes are too common! 🙂
kseniaprints says
Totally agreed. Btw, you'll get a kick out of this: when my mother saw me post this recipe, she emailed me right away, demanding that I make 'her favourite cake' for her when I come visit! Now that I'm in Israel, I guess I am on the hook. Dammit, internet 😉
Berta says
Hahaha that is so funny! One cannot, but laugh at the ways that the Internet has changed/is changing our day-to-day lives 🙂
Lynn in Tucson says
Thank you! But do you mean a 28" springform pan? I've never seen one so large!
kseniaprints says
Oh no, sorry for the confusion - 28 centimetres, or 11 inches! A 12-inch pan will do fine if that's all you have. I'm going to tweak the recipe to ensure it's clear.
Tzivia says
Sounds delicious. I just tried making something like this, but I had to improvise, because I'm in Israel and don't have sour cream, Philly, etc. It would be great if you could include Israeli equivalents (presumably, the original ingredients!) for those of us who are immigrants HERE and don't have recipes passed on from our families...
Thanks!
kseniaprints says
Tzvia, excellent point! However, as most of my readers tends to be based outside of Israel, I usually specify ingredients that are easily found here... But I'll try to do this from now on! Here, all you need to substitute the yogurt is gvina levana, while the rest of the ingredients stay the same (whipping cream is 'shamenet metuka', sour cream is 'shamenet hamutza', while instant pudding is instant pudding :)) Good luck!
Veronica says
Hi Ksenia, I am crazy about this cheesecake sold in a famour bakery in Boston. Baker is fr Israel so I think she uses some form of gvena levana. Like yours I dont think it is baked. Since we dont have gvana here in US I want to try your recipe. You say use instant pudding. That is in powder form. Do I cook it first as directed in the box?
Thanks much
Veronica
kseniaprints says
Hi Veronica! So glad that this recipe looks like something you would enjoy. The instant pudding is there to just help the cake set, it’s like an easy gelatin replacement. You don’t need to make it according to package instructions, just add the specified amount of powder into the mix. To substitute for gvina levana, I recommend using a thick, Balkan style 10% or 9% fat yogurt. If you cannot find that, use sour cream.! Enjoy and let me know how it goes!
Daisy says
I made this cake for the first time on Friday. It is delicious.
kseniaprints says
I am so happy, Daisy! It's my go-to cheesecake and I make it ALL THE TIME.