I topped this with a white chocolate glaze and macerated strawberries – all his favorites together!
I did have lots of little lumps when I poured the batter into the crust; but they did not transfer to the finished product – couldn’t notice them.
I was unable to separate the parchment paper from the bottom of the cake until after I’d cut a couple of slices. But they cut and served from the bottom of the springform pan just fine. I did think that, if I’d put the cake (still attached to the pan bottom) over a simmering pot of water, and allowed it to warm up; that maybe I could have separated the cake from the pan and parchment paper via an offset spatula run around the bottom, and a wide spatula to lift.
Prep Time: 20 min
Cook Time: 35 min at pressure + natural pressure release
Yield: 7″ cake
Ingredients:
Crust:
1 cup crushed vanilla wafers
3 tablespoons melted butter
Cake:
2/3 cup sucanat sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 pinches sea salt
16 ounces (2 pkgs) cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs, at room temperature
4-8 drops lemon essential oil, optional
Glaze:
4 ounces white baking chocolate
3 tablespoons whipping cream
Directions: Line a 7″ springform pan, bottom and sides, with parchment paper. (Oiling/buttering the paper is optional, but the paper sticks to the sides better if you dab some oil or butter in the pan.)
Mix the crushed wafers and melted butter together and press into the bottom of the springform pan. Set aside.
In a small bowl, mix together the sugar, cornstarch and salt.
Beat the cream cheese until smooth. Do this carefully: you don’t want too much air in your cheesecake, or it will be too dry and cake-y; but you need to beat all the lumps out (once you start adding the other ingredients, you’ll never get any lumps out).
Add the sugar mixture, mix well, scrape down the sides, and mix again.
Add the sour cream and vanilla, mix, scrape and mix.
Add the eggs and lemon essential oil (if you wish), mix, scrape and mix.
Pour the mixture into the prepared crust. Tap on the counter to get the air bubbles to rise. Pop them, and smooth out the top.
Pour 1 cup of water into the Instant Pot pot.
Cover the pan tightly with foil. Place on a trivet and lower the pan and trivet into the pot.
Tighten the lid, set the valve to seal, and set to pressure cook for 35 minutes.
When the 35 minutes are up, allow to natural pressure release.
Using the trivet handles, carefully lift the pan out of the pot and remove the foil. Set the pan on a cooling rack.
Allow the cake to cool on the counter for an hour or two, until it’s at room temperature. Cover the pan with plastic wrap or foil, and refrigerate several hours or overnight.
Remove the ring from around the cake, and peel off the parchment paper from the sides. If you can, separate the parchment paper from the bottom of the cake, and remove the cake to a serving plate. Otherwise, just place the cake, pan bottom and all, onto the serving plate.
In a double boiler or in the microwave, melt the white chocolate. Whisk in the whipping cream. Allow to cool, then pour over the cake. (This glaze does not harden, even after refrigeration.)
Garnish with fruit, if desired, and serve.