Bea’s Cheesecake

Today is World Food Day

According to GrownUps Holidays’ Uniworld River Cruises Founder, Beatrice Tollman, our food must always be delicious. Her 60-year culinary career began in her own kitchen perfecting her recipes, enjoying recipes passed down through her family, and cooking her favourite dishes discovered on her travels.

Now recipes from her repertoire are served on-board her river cruise line, Uniworld. Bea’s locally inspired cuisine is served while cruising through Europe, Asia, India, South America and Egypt.

To celebrate World Food Day, we’re sharing one of her favourite recipes – Bea’s Cheesecake.

“I’ve spent years trying and testing this recipe to ensure it produces a perfectly smooth and decadent cheesecake every time. It is a fusion of different recipes, tweaked and added to over time to get just the right, rich consistency. It has been a labour of love getting this right—I do love a good cheesecake!”

Ingredients:

Crust

• 1 1/4 cup (250 g) finely ground biscuit crumbs
• 2/3 cup (130 g) sugar
• 170 g butter, melted
• 3/4 tsp (2 g) ground cinnamon (optional)

Filling

• 1.35 kg cream cheese, softened
• 1 1/2 cups (350 g) sugar
• 6 eggs, separated (room temperature)
• 1 (bourbon) vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped out, or 1 tsp of vanilla paste
• 1 Tbsp (15 ml) vanilla extract
• Pinch of kosher salt
• 2 cups (450 ml) sour cream
• Whipped cream to serve

Method:

1. To make the crust, mix the biscuit crumbs, sugar, melted butter and cinnamon until well blended. Press the mixture into a 20-cm springform pan, ensuring a thin, consistent layer, and bake at 190°C for 7 minutes. Leave to cool, and then chill for an hour.
2. Whip the cream cheese and half the sugar together. Add the egg yolks, vanilla bean seeds (or vanilla paste), vanilla extract, salt and sour cream, and whip thoroughly, scraping the bowl. Whip the egg whites with the rest of the sugar. Fold the whites into the cheese mixture and very gently pour into the prepared springform pan. Wrap the bottom of the pan and place in a water bath. Bake in the oven for an hour at 180°C, then turn off the heat and allow to remain in the oven for another hour. Remove, cool on a rack and then refrigerate for 12 hours.
3. Topping is a dollop of whipped cream and a fresh mint leaf.

Enjoy more of Bea’s mouth-watering recipes on-board Castles Along the Rhine River Cruise or one of our other GrownUps Holidays’ Uniworld River Cruises.