I do not know why but I was always afraid of cheesecakes. Not to eat them but to make them. They crack, they are runny sometimes, and there are multiple ways you can get it wrong with a cheesecake. Well, Instant Pot opened a door for me. I hated the classical way of putting water on a tray and putting the pan inside a classical. What if the pan is not leakproof? Then, handling a hot water tray is not very pleasant. With the Instant Pot, things are simpler and with fewer negative surprises. But this is not a commercial post for the instant pot, it is just my opinion. You can definitely bake this cake in a normal oven too.
I made this cake in 2 versions, one including milk (or sour cream) and one without. The first one leads to a more creamy texture and the second one is more crumbly. The first one is soft, and the second is drier. I liked them both but my daughter detests cream texture in any cake. You can guess then which one was her favourite.
You can do this cake without the fruity layer but it adds a full dimension to the taste of this cake. The first version I made was with strawberries, and the second was with raspberries. Both are exceptional and red berries are just an idea, you can use any fruit you want!
Sugar in this cake is kept to a minimum but it is just enough to enhance the taste of the cake. If you prefer very sweet cakes, feel free to add as much sugar as you like. Personally, I like cakes but I also like to stay on the healthy side of eating. Most of the time I do not eat the cakes that I make, they are for my kids but if I really want to eat a slice I would choose one that is the most appealing to me and this one was irresistible.
I hope you will like it too...
Ingredients:
Biscuit layer:
- 125g biscuits (petit beurre)
- 50g butter (melted)
Cheese layer:
- 660g Philadelphia cheese (that is 2 XL boxes of the original version)
- 4 eggs
- 100g sugar
- 125g milk / sour cream (optional)
- 30g corn starch
- 1 tablespoon vanilla essence
- a pinch of salt
- 500 frozen berries (mainly raspberries, strawberries etc). Fresh berries are fine also.
- 4 gelatine sheets
- 50g sugar
- Crush the biscuits until they look like sand. You can do this using a food processor, or in a manual way, it is up to you and the tools that you have available.
- Add the melted butter and mix.
- Take a 9" / 20cm spring form pan and put a round baking paper on the bottom. You can also put baking paper on the sides, but I didn't.
- Add the mixture of biscuits with butter and press it evenly on the bottom of the pan. You can simply use a glass for this.
- Put the pan in the freezer until you prepare the cheesy layer.
- In a bowl, add the cheese, eggs and sugar and whisk.
- Then add the rest of the ingredients (corn starch, vanilla essence, salt) and mix it until there is no visible lump.
- Take the pan out of the freezer and pour this cheese composition over it.
- Cover with a lid and put it in the Instant Pot. Do not forget to add 2 cups of water to the bottom of the pot. Set the Pressure Cooker option for 35 minutes. When it is over use the Natural Release method and open the Instant Pot only when it is automatically unlocked.
- Take the pan out of the Instant Pot and let it cool on a rack until it arrives at room temperature. Do not open the spring form. If you do not have an Instant Pot, of course, you can do this in the oven in a bain-marie system.
- When cooled, prepare the red gelly layer: put the defrosted berries and the sugar in a pan and bring it to a boil. No need cut the berries, just use a spoon and mix in the pot while it is hot. Boil it for 3-5 minutes, mixing from time to time. Set it aside until we finish the next step.
- Prepare the gelatine foils by submerging them in cold water for 3-4 minutes. They will become soft. Take them out, squeeze them well of water and add them over the hot berries. They will melt in an instant. Mix well to distribute evenly the gelatine in the composition.
- Let it cool for 10 minutes then pour it over the cheese layer in the pan.
- Let it cool completely to room temperature (~30 minutes) then put the pan in the fridge for at least 4 hours and better leave it overnight.
- You can check if the gelatine layer is solidified, and if it passes the test, use a thin spatula to detach the cake from the sides and then open the spring form to release the cake.
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