American Cheesecake

Ingredients:
500g Philadelphia cream cheese
140g sugar
75g sour cream
45g Even brand plain cream from France
3 eggs
5g vanilla essence

Method:
1. Pre-heat your oven to 180 deg C.
2. Prepare the inside of a cake mould for a 1kg cake with a little butter and flour, set aside.
3. In a mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and sugar until smooth for at least eight minutes at third speed.
4. Add sour cream step by step to the mixture and continue to beat till smooth at second speed.
5. Add the eggs one by one and the vanilla essence. Continue to mix at the second speed till the mixture becomes fluffy.
6. Pour it into the mould and bake in a bain marie (a large pan of barely simmering water in which the mould, or a container with the mould in it, is placed), which allows the mixture to be heated gently and evenly for 30 minutes at 180 deg C.
7. After 30 minutes, flip the cheesecake over to check if both the top and bottom are evenly browned. If not, put the cake back into the mould, with the darker side at the bottom and place it in the oven again. Adjust the oven temperature to 100 deg C for 30 minutes more until the cheesecake becomes firm. Be careful: Over-baking your cheesecake will cause the skin to crack and it will become dry and difficult to cut.
8. Let the cheesecake cool down to room temperature. Place the cheesecake onto the prepared base.

To make base:
1. Purchase ready-rolled flat sugar dough (about 0.5cm thick) from major supermarkets.
2. Cut the dough to the correct diameter, that is, similar to the cheesecake mould, and bake in oven at 200 deg C until it turns golden brown. Leave to cool.