Blueberry Cheesecake

I’ve never made a blueberry cheesecake before, since blueberries are so expensive in Singapore. One 125g box of blueberries costs $3.50. Apparently, that’s the only type of blueberries sold in the larger supermarkets like Fairprice and Giant.

Boyfriend’s sister requested for blueberry cheesecake for her birthday, and I looked for a recipe to experiment with first, before Boyfriend makes the actual cake for her. While shopping at Giant, I found that the blueberries were on offer at $2.80, so I bought 4 boxes, and froze those that I didn’t use for next time.

I found this recipe from Epicurious, and chose to use the topping recipe from one of the comments.

Blueberry Cheesecake
from Epicurious

Makes one 10″ cheesecake (I halved the recipe)

For crust
2 1/3 cups graham cracker crumbs (I used digestive biscuits)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar

For filling
4 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup all purpose flour
5 large eggs
1 16-ounce container sour cream
1/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

For topping (this is taken from one of the comments)
1 heaping cup of blueberries
1 1/2 tsp of cornstarch
1/4 cup of sugar
1/2 cup additional blueberries
1 tsp lemon juice (optional)

Make crust:
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 375°F (190°C). Wrap outside of 10-inch-diameter springform pan (I used a 6″ removable bottom, and 8 cupcakes) with heavy-duty foil. Combine all ingredients in processor. Blend using on/off turns just until crumbs are moist (I made the crust by hand). Press crumb mixture firmly onto bottom and 2 inches up sides of prepared pan. Bake until crust begins to brown, about 8 minutes. Transfer crust to rack and cool. Maintain oven temperature.

Make filling:
Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar in large bowl until will blended. Beat in flour. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating just until combined. Beat in sour cream, milk and vanilla. Pour filling into crust.

Place springform pan in large roasting pan. Pour enough hot water into roasting pan to come 1 inch up sides of pan. Bake cheesecake until just set in center and top is slightly puffed and golden brown, about 1 hour (I cut it down to 40 mins for the 6″ and 30 mins for the cupcakes). Turn off oven; keep door closed. Let cheesecake stand in oven 1 hour. Remove cheesecake from roasting pan. Refrigerate until cold, at least 6 hours. Cover; refrigerate overnight.

Make topping:
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine 1 heaping cup of blueberries with the cornstarch and sugar. Stir until sugar and cornstarch melts. Boil for 3 mins, or until juices become thick. Remove from heat and stir in 1/2 cup of fresh blueberries and 1 tsp of lemon juice (optional).
Cool and pour over cooled cheesecake.

The cake was excellent. It’s the first time I’ve made cheesecake with sour cream, not because I didn’t want to, but because there’s only 1 brand of sour cream in Fairprice (I can’t even find it in Giant), and I only managed to find it after several trips to there. I also made this cheesecake with walls all the way up the sides. I love the buttery crust and I can eat it straight from the bowl in spoonfuls, but sadly, there wasn’t even enough to line the bottom of all the cupcakes (2 had no crust). Maybe I made the walls too thick, that’s why. Hmm.

Anyway, the cheesecake tastes best with the blueberry topping. I followed the recipe pretty much to a T, but I found that it wasn’t too sweet, like most dessert recipes are. Didn’t have to cut down on the sugar at all. My dad even complained that the blueberry topping wasn’t sweet enough, but that might be because the blueberries I used weren’t that sweet to begin with.

Photos are pretty bad this time round because I took them at night. It was also the first night that I’m spending at home, after staying for 3 nights in the newsroom to rush out work for the magazine. It’s kinda draining actually.

Anyway, response has been +++ for this cheesecake so far. Family likes it, Boyfriend likes it, office people likes it. Now I’m just waiting for response from the most critical taste tester – Boyfriend’s sister. This cake was made with her in mind and Boyfriend brought a slice home for her to try. Let’s just hope that she likes it too.