My Friday Food Flop for today: Fluffy Cheesecake…NOT
My Mom gave me a great recipe for this cheesecake she made that came out so light and high and fluffy, but it called for “whipped topping” — yuck. I knew that using real whipped cream wouldn't give the same results, because it doesn't stay fluffy for long. So I did the only thing I could think of: I asked on Facebook. I posted there, didn't hear anything, and posted again. Still nothing. I was shocked, because normally I get loads of great tips from all of you after posting. (Later I found all sorts of helpful comments on both the first and the second post, so who knows how I screwed that up and missed them.)
I just figured no one knew the answer, so I went back through all of the comments on my How to make real whipped cream post, and someone suggested making your whipped cream hold its shape for recipes better by adding a little gelatin mixed in water. So that's what I tried. As you can see, that flopped. Of course I never learn NOT to try out new recipes on friends, so others had to deal with my flop, too. At least it still tasted good.
I'll show you the recipe I used, and maybe you can tell me how I could make it work next time…
- 2-8 ounce cream cheese softened (I like this cream cheese)
- 1.5 cups coconut sugar
- 2 cups sour cream (I like this pastured sour cream)
- 4 egg yolks (OK, so that wasn't in Mom's recipe, but I wanted some extra nutrition in there.)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
Mix everything together well.
For the whipped cream, follow the directions at this post: How to make real whipped cream. Then combine 1 tsp. gelatin with 4 tsp. water in a pan on the stove and heat just 'til it dissolves. Stir it gently into the whipped cream.
Fold the whipped cream into the cheese mixture.
Pour into a graham cracker crust:
- 20 organic graham crackers
- 1/2 cup coconut sugar
- 1.5 sticks of butter (3/4 cup)
Press into your serving pan, I used a 9×13 glass baking dish.
Let chill for at least 4 hours, or in this case, maybe 4 days would've been better to get it to set up. Serve with fresh fruit on top.
Any ideas? (Help!) Do you think some of the Facebook suggestions from the links above might work?
- See my past Friday Food Flops (scroll down to see them all)
- Check out my resources page for where to buy ingredients and other goodies I recommend!
- I don’t post a food flop every Friday, but now and then I’ll share my latest kitchen bummers, because I certainly have plenty.
Betty says
I think I’ve heard of adding meringue powder when whipping cream when trying to a ‘store-bought’ cream whip. I’ve never tried it myself, but the premise behind it is the meringue helps stabilize the whipped cream.
When I first read the ingredients, I couldn’t figure out why you would need the yucky stuff in a cheesecake, then it dawned on me that you were making an ‘ice-box’ cheesecake. I’ve been making regular baked cheesecake and it took me a bit longer to figure out 🙂
Sue says
Kelly – I remember writing a pretty long response to this on your Facebook post. I’m not sure why you didn’t see it.
This is a no-bake cheesecake, it looks like you are simply taking regular cream cheese, adding sweetener, then lightening it up with sour cream and whipped topping. The cheese itself is so firm that once you’ve done all this and then re-chilled it, the consistency would be right. I think the problem – as others have said – is the extra egg yolks. You are increasing the liquid beyond the point that the cream cheese can hold it together. Just leave the extra eggs out.
KitchenKop says
OK, that’s what I’ll try next time!
Commenter via Facebook says
Last flop – SECOND time I’ve done the same stupid thing. Those squat plastic tubs of baking powder and cornstarch are too similar. Making chocolate raspberry bars, need cornstarch in frozen raspberries – I used baking powder instead. Noticed a few minutes later it was a strange color and all bubble/fizzy. Now I have a glass jar with tapioca powder to try next time around.
Commenter via Facebook says
Try a frozen cheesecake Kelly KitchenKop. Cottage cheese, cream cheese, honey, bit of lemon, chopped pecans for crust, partially freeze, score, then freeze.
Commenter via Facebook says
I’m usually pretty good at figuring out fixes…..but I’m stumped….and I always use real whipped cream.
Rebecca says
Have you tried this recipe? I make this one and adore it. https://high-fat-nutrition.blogspot.com/search/label/Food%3B%20Mutton%20followed%20by%20cheesecake
Commenter via Facebook says
Well it happens to the best of us lol
Robin says
Hey Kelly! I do remember seeing this on facebook, but it seemed like you got some good suggestions, so I didn’t post. Growing up, we would make something similar to your fluffy cheesecake (I think) but we called it “cherry cream cheese pie”. It was basically cream cheese and cool whip mixed together, poured into a graham cracker crust and then once it set up in the fridge, we poured cherry pie topping over it (yummmm…). Well, I haven’t made it in a while, once I decided I didn’t want to use cool whip anymore :-).
However, I recently made a strawberry cream pie from Cooks’ Illustrated which includes, in part, a cream cheese/whipped cream filling, and I remember thinking that that filling would also work perfectly for the above-mentioned pie (although subbing the cherry pie filling would also be something to tackle :-)). Anyway, I think it might be just what you are looking for. Essentially, you just substitute heavy cream for the cool whip and blend well with the cream cheese until it is all whipped together and fluffy. The cream cheese acts to keep the whipped cream more stable and not deflate. I would maybe try making it first as is (and not add egg yolks). Then, if it works and you feel like experimenting, maybe try adding egg yolks then, but yeah, that will add extra liquid, and I’m not sure how it will affect the final texture.
Recipe:
8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt (fine, not kosher)
2 cups heavy cream
Place cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and salt in bowl of mixer (if you have a standing mixer with a whisk attachment, use that). Beat (or whisk) at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes, scraping down bowl with spatula as needed. Reduce speed to low and add heavy cream in slow, steady stream. When almost fully combined, increase speed to medium-high and beat until mixture holds stiff peaks, 2 to 2 1/2 minutes more, scraping bowl as needed (you should have about 4 1/2 cups).
Like I said, this mixture was pretty much EXACTLY like the pie filling we made above, just using real cream instead of cool whip. Hope this helps!!!
KitchenKop says
Woohooo! I’ll try it, thanks!
Bobbie says
Hi Kelly! Just wondering…what type of cream cheese do you use? I have tried to make my own with some leftover raw milk (by clabbering and draining) but the texture is off. Thanks for any advice you can send my way!
KitchenKop says
I just use organic cream cheese from the local health food store or from my buying club. 🙂
gharkness says
In order to make cream cheese you have to have rennet, which you purchase from a specialty shop or order online. It’s not hard to make….you just mix it all up, add the rennet and drain for a long time, kind of like greek yogurt, but you need more specific instructions than that 🙂 Google it! That’s where I found out how to do it!
Naomi M says
I have made whipped cream from both whipping cream (store-bought) and just plain cream from raw milk. Both taste great and hold their shape well with no gelatin. I just add sugar and vanilla to taste and whip until it is the consistency you desire.
Lori says
So glad you posted this *disaster* as I have a few well-loved recipes that also call for whipped topping and Real Whipped Cream does not work in them as it falls apart! I would like to know how to substitute, too.
One of mine is for a no-bake cheesecake, but the others are for a pudding dessert, and the other is also pudding-based and we’ve been eating this one since around 1974.
Looking forward to seeing how other people made viable changes.
Mary says
My mom has a fabulous recipe for cheesecake that calls for egg yolks blended into to cream cheese, sour cream, and sugar and then you use the egg whites and whip them until they can hold stiff peaks. Then you fold the egg whites into the cream cheese mixture. It always comes out light and fluffy and delicious. Of course, my mom’s recipe is for a baked cheesecake but it may work in this way as well.
Kelly says
Can I have the recipe pretty please??
JMR says
I’d omit the gelatin simply because I’ve never heard of doing that and it sounds kind of like it would give the whipped cream a weird texture. I’d halve the egg yolks to cut down the amount of liquid. And I’d probably serve it within 2 hours instead of 4. I’ve made plenty of desserts very similar to this and had no trouble with them, so I’m not sure what happened to yours. Just make sure you whip the cream really well so it is nice and firm. Fold it into the cream cheese mixture very gently (don’t stir it in). It should hold its shape for a couple hours with no trouble.
Alice says
Maybe skip the whipped cream. Beat the cream cheese, yolks, vanilla, sugar and sour cream until they are fluffy.
Lana says
If you are adding that many eggs, I think you need more cream cheese to “firm” up the mixture. I would add another 8 oz. package.