Ingredients
Check off ingredients as you go
Serves 10 (one 22-25 cm / 9-10 inch pan)
For the base
- 250 g (9 oz) cookies (petit beurre butter cookies, Oreos or speculoos), crushed more or less finely to taste
- 100 g (7 Tbsp) melted butter
For the cream cheese filling
- 500 ml (2 cups) heavy cream (38% fat), well chilled
- 50-100 g (¼-½ cup) cane sugar
- 1 packet vanilla sugar (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
- 1 packet instant vanilla pudding mix or 8 g (1 Tbsp) powdered gelatin dissolved in half a glass (100 ml) of water
- 500 g (2 cups) fromage blanc, 5% or 9% fat (or plain Greek yogurt)
- lemon zest (if you like it)
For the topping (optional)
- crumbled cookies
- or melted chocolate
- or caramel sauce
- or fruit coulis
Before you start, put your whisk in the fridge or freezer so your whipped cream whips up nicely.
Making the base
- Mix the crushed speculoos or petit beurre cookies with the melted butter and line the pan with the mixture. Press down evenly with the bottom of a glass. Chill.
Making the cream cheese filling
- Whip the heavy cream, and once it starts to hold, add the sugar, the zest and the pudding mix (or the gelatin, which you will have dissolved in a little water and warmed—never boiling—just enough to melt it). Beat until the mixture is smooth and nicely thick, then add the fromage blanc. In my photo it isn’t perfectly smooth: I used half fromage blanc and half vanilla mascarpone cream (Gad brand), and it was a little cold so harder to work with.
- Spoon the mixture over the cookie base, smooth it with a spatula or the back of a spoon, and crumble some speculoos on top if you like (if you choose another topping, add it just before serving). Refrigerate for at least six hours before serving, or even overnight for the next day.
On the day, serve as is or decorated however you like, for example with caramel sauce.
Tips and variations
- Use a cake ring, a springform pan lined with parchment paper, or muffin tins with paper liners, so there’s no disaster when you unmold it… I recommend putting it in the freezer for a good half hour before serving: it will be even fresher and easier to unmold, running the blade of a knife all around the edge first before removing the ring.
- For a richer cake, add a 200 g (7 oz) tub of sour cream (shamenet hamutsa) or mascarpone.
- For the gelatin, I’ve written 8 g, but it all depends on how firm you like it. This one holds its shape, as in the photo, and has a creamy, almost mousse-like texture that’s very pleasant; some people use up to 12 g of gelatin for a very firm cake, so it’s up to you.
- This cake freezes well! In that case, drain your fromage blanc before using it so it releases its water.
- Use a smaller pan for a taller cake, but I find 25 cm (10 inches) is plenty, because this kind of cake is always rich.
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