Creamy Cheese Custard Cake

I was really really craving for cheesecake buttt it was a long weekend so I should provide a big pan for my family that came over. Seeing the amount I should bake, bought the pricey cream cheese was not an option for me. And here it is: a tricky recipe that spent only half of the budget of  the usual cheese cake!

This recipe is popular among the online Indonesian cooking community as a cheap and low budget cheesecake without cream cheese. It use processed cheddar cheese, the easiest to be found here with affordable price. Of course, you cannot expect it will taste similarly as the usual cheesecake, but with a tablespoon of lemon juice and shreds of lemon zest, you can find the enjoyable flavor of creamy cheesecake! I also add a pack of agar pack to make it more solid.

Niken's Creamy Cheese Custard Cake

Yield: 10 inch pan

Total cooking time: 2 hours

Ingredients:

- Crust:

• 145 grams (12 crackers), crushed fine
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tbsp milk

- Cheese custard

• 2 cup milk
• 1 cup plain yoghurt
• 175 grams grated processed cheddar cheese
• 3 yolk
• 2 tablespoon all purpose flour
• 2 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 pack (7 gram) agar
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 - 2 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• a pinch salt

Directions:

1. To prepare crust, mix well all crust ingredients. Line pan with parchment paper, spread crust mixture evenly on top. Bake in 100 degree for 5 minutes.
   
   
   
   
2. In sauce pan, cook milk and yoghurt over medium heat. Add lemon juice, lemon zest, and cheese, whisk constantly to help it melt. Bring to just boil.
   
3. Strain the milk mixture so there are no cheese lumps remain. Reheat mixture until just warm.
4. In a bowl, whisk together yolk and sugar until it becomes pale. Add agar pack, flour, and cornstarch, mix until homogeneous.
   
5. Slowly add 1/3 milk mixture to egg mixture, whisk continuously. Pour milk-egg mixture back to saucepan, cook over low heat while whisking continuously until the custard is thickened. Remove from heat.
   
6. To assemble: pour custard on baked crust. Refrigerate until set and solid, about half hour up to two hours.
   
7. Serve it with your favorite choice of jam.