​Clara’s Cheesecake with Sour Cream Topping by Kathleen Davis

by Kathleen Davis

Galatians 5:22-23: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

My mother loved to bake. She didn’t have much of an appetite for sweets herself – her own tastes ran to the salty and savory – but she enjoyed preparing treats for her family and friends, which made her baking seem to me like an act of pure love. Baking was one of Mom’s ministries, kindness made tangible. She celebrated Christmas with mountains of pumpkin rolls, walnut crescents, and oatmeal bars. She brought a cake – chocolate peanut butter or maybe pistachio – to every church dinner. She spent Saturday mornings in her kitchen laboring over a double-crust fruit pie or – my favorite – her elegant cheesecake, creamy and light, with the bright bite of lemon and a hint of sour cream.

This isn’t an especially complex or involved recipe and the ingredients are simple. (Anything involving staggering amounts of dairy spiked with a little sugar and vanilla is going to be delicious, even without careful pastry technique.) No, the main ingredient here is patience: the patience to pour a water bath around the cheesecake, the patience to let it bake on a relatively low temperature for over an hour, even the patience required to just keep the oven door closed and not check on your handiwork. And patience is necessary for these results. The leisurely bake time produces a lovely texture, but it can’t be rushed. You could skip the water bath, but the water bath helps to ensure that your cheesecake won’t crack.

I’ve heard people joke that a particular dish is a “spiritual experience,” but to me, Mom’s cheesecake tasted like love. When I tried to think of a scriptural resonance for this recipe, all I could think of was Galatians 5 and the ingredient list of fruits of the spirit: the love of creating something delightful for friends and family, the patience needed to carry out each step, the gentleness required to mix the ingredients until just combined, the self-control demanded to wait for the results, the sheer joy experienced in the end product. (If I really wanted to stretch the scripture, I would point out that there’s even fruit in this recipe, in the form of a half-teaspoon of lemon juice.) Regardless, there is something meditative about baking. Baking demands that we slow down and focus. Baking also lets us bear witness to a transformation – a pale slab of cream cheese and some egg yolks turned into something stylish and sweet, patience yielding joy. As you make this, slow down. Wait. And taste the alchemy of time and love.

Clara’s Cheesecake with Sour Cream Topping

Ingredients:

12 graham crackers (about 1 ½ cups)

¼cup sugar

5 tbsp. melted butter

2 8 oz. packages of cream cheese, at room temperature

½ cup sugar

3 large eggs, at room temperature

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 cup sour cream

3 tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

½ tsp. fresh lemon juice

1 tsp. lemon zest (optional)

Graham Cracker Crust

  • Butter the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan. Tear off two large strips of aluminum foil, and wrap them tightly around the outside of the springform pan – this will ensure that no water gets into the cake while it basks in its water bath.
  • Put 12 graham crackers in a large bowl. Crush with your hands or a pestle and mix with sugar. (You can also put the graham crackers in a food processor and pulse until the crackers are ground.)
  • Evenly pour the melted butter into the mixture. Stir using a fork until everything is evenly blended.
  • Pour crust mixture into a 9 inch springform pan. Press it evenly around the bottom and up the sides of the pan.
  • Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350° F. Place the crust in the freezer while the oven heats.
  • Bake for 10 minutes. After you remove the crust from the oven, lower the temperature to 325° F.

Cream Cheese Filling

  1. In a large bowl, mix the softened cream cheese and sugar together on medium to medium-high speed. The texture should look like white velvet. Once fully combined, add the vanilla and one egg. Blend until fully incorporated. Scrape the bowl down from time to time to ensure everything is mixed together. Add the remaining eggs one at a time.
  2. Pour the cheesecake mixture into the crust. Tap the pan to encourage any air bubbles to rise to the surface.
  3. Place the cheesecake (in its springform pan) into a large pan like a roaster. Fill a pitcher with very hot water and carefully pour around the base of your cheesecake.Bake on 325° F for approximately 75 minutes, or until the center no longer jiggles when gently shaken. Once the cheesecake layer has baked, let it cool for approximately 15 minutes. Increase the oven temperature to 350° F.

Sour Cream Topping:

  • While the cheesecake is cooling, whisk the sour cream, sugar, vanilla, and lemon juice together until smooth. Once the cheesecake has cooled for approximately 15 minutes, pour the sour cream mixture over top. Using a rubber spatula or offset spatula, smooth out the surface.
  • Place the dessert back into the oven (remember the heat should have been increased to 350° F) and bake for about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack to cool to room temperature.
  • Once the cheesecake has cooled to room temperature, refrigerate the cheesecake overnight to set. If you’re feeling fancy, you can sprinkle the cake top with a teaspoon of lemon zest.