Oreo Yogurt Cheesecake

This is almost an encore cheesecake. The only addition is this fancy chocolate swirls that does more for its looks than its taste. I have always wanted to do this swirly thing for a thousand times, but there was always some change in plans. Until today, that is.

In my home, role reversals happen  all the time. Because behind my shoulder, my very prudent teenage daughter kept muttering " Don't overdo it! Moderation PLEEEESE ! " Because of her good judgment, the swirls are very visible.

Next time, I will bake a cake with a million swirls. When my daughter is in school.

Inspired by Kevin Chai's "Cheesecake Mania"

Base :

160g crushed oreo biscuits ( minus the sandwiched frosting )

60g melted butter

Filling :

450g cream cheese, softened

50g caster sugar

3 eggs, room temperature

120g low fat yogurt ( flavor of your choice )

1 T lemon juice

1 T corn flour

Swirls :

1/4 t cocoa powder

Method :

Prepare a non-stick spring form pan, 7 inches.

Microwave butter until it is melted, 50 sec.

For the base, process biscuits in a food processor.

Combined biscuits and butter to make cake base.

Compact cake base mix onto spring form  pan and chill until ready for baking. If hard pressed for time, freeze cake base for 15 minutes.

At this point, preheat oven to 170 C.

Whisk and break up cream cheese. Mix in sugar. Add corn flour, juice, yogurt to cream cheese and mix until smooth. Do not over whisk and aerate the mixture.

Reserve 1 tablespoon of cheesecake batter. Mix with 1/4 teaspoon of cocoa powder until homogenous.

Pour batter onto chilled base.  Tap the pan on the worktop a couple of time to expel trapped air bubbles before baking.

Gently dot the batter surface with cocoa yogurt mix. Use a tip of a chopstick and draw patterns lightly on the surface on the cake.

Bake at 170C for 30-40 minutes. I baked mine for  32 minutes.

Cool the cake completely before chilling it. Serve chilled.

Verdict : As cheesecake standards go, this is good old fashioned compact and  creamy without the raised edge and sunken center. This is achieved by drastically reducing the amount of whisking at every stage, cranking the cream cheese at room temperature and baking at a low temperature of 170 C. All without the water bath, a mini accomplishment by itself.

There's this little hole near the edge of all my cheesecakes which I couldn't rid of