Mrs Bea’s Cheesecake
Beatrice Tollman, founder and president of boutique hotel chain Red Carnation Group is still very hands-on in the hotels and with the food.
Here she has shared the recipe for her delicious cheesecake – enjoy!
Serves 12
INGREDIENTS
1.35kg Philadelphia cream cheese
6 eggs, separated (room temperature)
350g granulated sugar
1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped out
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
A pinch of kosher salt
A 20cm spring mould
Topping
450ml sour cream
50g sugar
Crust
250g finely ground graham cracker or Digestive biscuit crumbs
130g white sugar
170g butter, melted
2g ground cinnamon (optional)
METHOD
1. For the crust, mix the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, melted butter, and cinnamon until well blended.
2. Press the mixture into the mould to ensure a thin, consistent layer and bake at 190c for 7 minutes. Leave to cool, then chill for an hour.
3. Whip the cream cheese and half the sugar.
4. Add the egg yolks, vanilla seeds, vanilla extract, salt and sour cream, and whip thoroughly, scraping the bowl
5. Whip the egg whites with the rest of the sugar
6. Fold the whites into the cheese mixture and very gently pour into the prepared pan
7. Wrap the bottom of the mould pan and place in a water bath
8. Bake in the oven for an hour at 180c then turn off the heat and allow to remain in the oven for another hour
9. Remove, cool on a rack, and then refrigerate for twelve hours
10. To finish, pre-heat the oven to 100c
11. Mix the sour cream and sugar for the topping, top the chilled cheesecake, and bake for 20 minutes
12. Finally chill for 24 hours before serving