This is my first attempt at making cheesecake, AND making cheesecake with yogurt and crème fraîche. There are so many great sources for cheesecake that I never had the need to spend several hours creating this treat. But I'm glad I did. This is a nice alternative to the standard recipe - creamy, with a slightly lighter weight to it.
I use homemade yogurt and crème fraîche, and I drip the yogurt to get more moisture out of it. I did this by placing the yogurt in a paper towel over a strainer, which was sitting in a saucepan. I leave it there for about a minimum of 15 minutes, but the longer the better. I usually drip it overnight, covered in the refrigerator (yup, the whole saucepan setup). While I secretly wanted to obtain a luxurious creamy taste that one gets from using cream cheese and heavy cream, I would have been happy if it was edible.
I also decided not to use my springform pan, and instead I used a pie plate (mostly because I didn't have enough yogurt to fill up the springform pan). With this recipe, the plate should not really matter and you don't need a water bath in the oven, as so many other recipes call for (at least I didn't). However, next time, I'm using the springform pan and doubling the recipe so that it looks like a classic New York style cheesecake.
Update: I made this recipe again and this time I probably should have put a water bath in the oven with the cheesecake because it did crack a bit on the top. I don't mind the little bit of cracking, but if you do, take precautions by covering the outer edge of the cheesecake with foil and then submerge it halfway in a water bath.
At the end, I quickly whipped up some cherry coulis by simmering frozen sweet cherries, honey and a small amount of lemon juice for about 5 to 10 minutes. This technique will work for any berries you have on hand or in the freezer. You can serve this warm or cold.
Cheesecake {yogurt & crème fraîche}
Ingredients
Crust
- 1.5 cups blanched almond flour
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ¼ cup honey
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract optional
Filling
- 1.5 cups dripped yogurt like Greek yogurt, very thick due to the moisture being dripped out of it
- 1 cup crème fraîche
- 6 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs
- 1 large egg yolk
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
- Prepare the crust by combining all the ingredients by hand or in a food processor, and combine the ingredients until they are well blended.
- With your hands, press the crust down on the bottom of a baking dish or spring form pan.
- Bake the crust for about 10 minutes. Don't let it brown much at all - it will have plenty of time to brown in the next cycle of baking.
- Cool the crust for about 15 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F.
- Mix the yogurt and crème fraîche with a mixer on the lowest speed for a minute or so, just until the well blended. You can do this by hand as well.
- Drizzle the honey into the mixture and mix again until it is thoroughly blended.
- Add the lemon juice, vanilla, and mix again.
- Finally, add and mix in the egg yolk and then each egg, one at a time, until well blended.
- Pour the liquid filling on top of the cooled crust and bake for 10 minutes.
- Add a water bath in the oven if you want to prevent the top from cracking. Lower the oven temperature to 200 degrees F, and bake for an additional 40-45 minutes.
- When the center is firm or the temperature in the center of the cake is about 140 to 150 degrees F, it's ready to come out of the oven.
- Cool for a few hours and then refrigerate until you're ready to enjoy it!
David Daverso says
filling step 9 calls for adding salt, but salt does not appear in list of ingredients
Thanks David! I don't remember adding salt to this cake so I removed the reference to salt.
Louise says
Never made a cheesecake before, this turned out perfect! Love all your recipes thank you
Erica says
So great to hear! thank you ☺️
Jen says
Hi Erica!
Would it be okay to just use SCD yogurt that's been made with whole milk and half&half or do you think it wouldn't turn out right? I have a whole batch that I was hoping to use for cheesecake...thanks!
Erica says
Yes, I think it should work.
Aukje says
Love this recipe, as it turned out really well. Thanks!
Mari says
Could cream cheese be used instead if the yogurt?
Erica says
I haven't tried it - sorry. The measurements might be different.
Nancy says
I'd *love* to make this as part of my Thanksgiving dinner, but the link to the crème fraîche post doesn't seem to be working. Is there any chance you could repost it?
Erica says
sorry - ugh. still lots of glitches to work out. I inserted links all over the post, but here it is as well: https://comfybelly.wpengine.com/2008/12/creme-fraiche/. Let me know if this is not what you were looking for.
Nancy says
Perfect! Thank you. =)
Erica says
Oh JoAnne. Sorry to hear that. Yeah, it sounds like it was still too wet. The longer you drip it, obviously the drier it will be. There's probably no drawback to having it as dry as possible, so my recommendation is to drip it overnight.
JoAnne says
I tried this recipe and found that my cultured half+half must have been far to "wet" still because it totally soaked the crust and made it a gooey mess. A delicious gooey mess, but a mess nevertheless. Any recommendations?
Audrey says
I tried this recipe last weekend and it turned out great! I didn't have lemon juice so I left that out, and I added about a teaspoon of cinnamon to the crust mixture. It was sooo good.
barbara says
ooh, that looks soo tasty!
katiebear says
Grainy texture might be due to too high a heat. Might also be prevented by water bath.
By grainy, do you mean gritty or not-smooth (like the ingredients separated)?
Erica says
No grainy stuff in my cheesecake. I used honey though - not sure why you would have a grainy texture (sugar?)
Creme fraiche is heavy cream that is fermented just as you would do with yogurt. So you can make it in the same way. Here is where I talk about creme fraiche: https://comfybelly.wpengine.com/2008/12/creme-fraiche.html.
Monica says
This looks so good, but did this come out creamy, or did it have a grainy texture? Every time I have tried a cheesecake, they always come out with a strange (uneatable for me) texture. Also how do you make the creme fraiche?