DeVonn Makes Matcha Cheesecake

And then we have our marblation.

I just invented the word marblation.

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This is one of my favorite cakes

because it's not as fussy as a New York-style cheesecake.

If you're not a super confident baker,

this is perfect for you because it's really easy to make,

it's decadent, it's got lots of layers

and it doesn't actually require that much technique.

You burn it, you put it in the oven,

you take it out, and it's kind of ready to go.

I am putting my spin on it today with an addition of matcha.

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We have a spring form pan.

It has this locking mechanism.

You don't have to worry about kinda

like doing the knife work and prying it

and all of the fussy things

that sometimes happens when you're baking.

We're just going to spray the pan.

I'm gonna have like in Issey Miyake pleat moment

and we're gonna press parchment into the pan.

I'm gonna do two sheets,

just to make sure that there's a double layer.

It creates a barrier for the cake itself.

It's going to rise significantly

and so what this does is it creates an additional kind

of wall and height to make sure that it doesn't spill over.

And there you have.

It's giving like church hat, actually.

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It's like very like fascinator.

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Start by just unlocking, and this is a paddle attachment.

So for ingredients,

we have our classic Philadelphia cream cheese.

It's at room temperature, and you wanna keep it

at room temperature because it's softer,

it's easier to mix in with the granulated sugar.

And just let it spin and do its thing

for a second. [mixer whirring]

The other thing that's happening as this spins

is it's actually adding more heat because of it's spinning.

So the cream cheese

and the sugar will actually loosen up a bit.

As it goes, you'll see that it'll start

to coat the sides more

and that's because you're actually incorporating more heat

into the process.

So I'm gonna turn this down

and just check on our friend.

So I'm not feeling any sugar

I'm going to lick my finger and then wash my hands.

I'm just gonna give a little lift,

scrape the sides down,

and then mix it just for another 30 seconds

to make sure that it's all incorporated

the way I want it to be. [mixer whirring]

The other cool thing

about this cheesecake is there's not much

in the way of overworking it.

I would say, you know, with like a traditional cake,

if there's an attention to like how mixed or not,

but for this, I feel like it's actually super forgiving.

So if you go to like, you know,

catch an episode of your favorite show

and you get sucked in,

like happens to me all the time,

and you come back to it, it's actually probably fine.

I'm gonna add the eggs to a bowl

because I think that's a little bit easier

just to have them all in one place

so that while you're pouring,

you don't have to kinda keep going back and forth.

I think it's just faster and cleaner.

[mixer whirring] Mixer goes back on

and then one egg at a time, you're gonna wait

for the first one to be incorporated until you add the next.

And you'll also begin to see like a slight color change,

of course, because the egg yolks,

but then also you'll see

that the batter itself will loosen up as well,

which is exactly what you want.

So we're gonna scrape down again.

We wanna just make sure that again

that it's well incorporated.

There's no lumps.

As it mixes, I'm gonna add my heavy cream,

vanilla, adding my salt in.

I think it's good.

I think we're pretty much there,

which is more than that I could ask for.

I'm going to sift in my flour

and that's just because I wanna make sure,

you know, we've already spent so much time making sure

the texture is silky and smooth

and that everything's well incorporated.

Sifting is just an extra step

that will allow for the flour to granulate

or just become a little finer as you mix it.

I'm using all-purpose flour.

It's just to add a little bit of body.

And, again, you'll see that there's flour

that's gonna develop on the sides

because of the mixing process.

Same thing, you're gonna scrape the side of the bowl.

Right now, it's giving melted ice cream, actually.

It's like a delicious melted pool of vanilla bean ice cream.

[mixer whirring]

And then we're just gonna give it another mix.

That looks pretty good, I think.

You wanna talk about matcha?

Let's talk about matcha.

The reason why matcha is so fab is

because it contains a ton of antioxidants

and it has caffeine, but it's not the same sort of

like crazed feeling you get when you have coffee.

I feel like it's just kind of

like a nice and energetic moment.

I'm gonna sift out a quarter cup of powdered matcha.

You know, when you just have it in tea with water,

it's sometimes incredibly medicinal

and has that grassy note.

And I actually love it in the Basque cheesecake

because I think that toasted element

that you get from baking it at such a high temperature

allows for it to kind of compliment that creaminess

and it kind of cuts through all of that dairy

that you're using.

I'm gonna divide these into two glass bowls,

mostly because I want you to just see that it's even

and the difference in color as I mix the matcha in.

Separating is also really great,

because, as we add those layers into our spring form,

you'll see that you'll wanna kinda alternate

between bowls in order to get that marble effect

that we're gonna use on the cake.

And don't waste any bit of this.

I mean, you literally just spent probably five minutes

making sure that it was really smooth,

so we don't leave anything in the bowl.

Add this powder into the top.

I'm just gonna mix this by hand

because it's satisfying to mix it

and see the color change, I think.

Have you ever tried to whisk with your other hand?

It's actually like very embarrassing.

Yeah, that looks pretty good to me.

Tiny flecks is fine.

I kinda like small pockets of matcha in it.

I feel like it's like a little surprise sometimes of flavor.

Not too big, though.

Just like a little ooh.

So we have well incorporated our matcha powder.

This color, it's gorgina.

And what I'm gonna do is I'm just

to alternate between batter number one

and batter number two.

Make sure that at least both batters do touch the bottom,

and so I'm just gonna pour this right next to it.

And so we're just gonna do a little

like matcha back and forth, volley, tag team moment.

We have our two colors in the spring form.

You can see that it's already quite tall,

so we'll just flip this up when we're ready.

But before I do that,

I'm going to further enhance this marbling effect.

I'm just going to kind of draw patterns.

The colors are kind of like integrating together,

but it's not blending

so you're not losing that difference in color.

You're actually just creating more of like a texture.

Once you do it a little bit,

you'll start to see that the color will start to gray

and you don't want it to become too gray,

and so when it starts to become a little bit too thin,

you know you're ready to stop.

The next step is putting it in the oven at 400 degrees.

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You can see that it's giving like full jiggly caliente.

That signature burnt crust on the top,

and then also thank goodness for this parchment

because you can see

that it's risen just above the spring pan.

We did a pretty incredible job, if I say so myself.

I can still smell the matcha,

but it's also giving kind of like the roasted notes

that we're also looking for and achieving

because of the high temperature of the heat.

She's cooled down.

Still some give, but, you know,

it's kind of like condensed and compressed

and it's kinda cool because, you know,

it's not that perfect shape that you're probably used

to with a New York-style cheesecake.

You're gonna see some variation because of the parchment,

but I feel like that adds a layer of depth and texture.

We wanna make sure that it cools completely

because what happens is the cake will essentially collapse.

Now I'm just gonna cut into it.

And so you can kinda see, especially around this edge here,

that you have, you know, that layer of white on the bottom

and then you can kinda see those striations,

kind of like wood grain, honestly.

We're gonna finish with a bit of matcha powder,

but I just want you to see

that you don't have a traditional crust.

It's more so the casing from the actual high temperature

in the oven and that high heat

that allows it to kinda keep its structure.

It's a little dusting of matcha.

I'm just gonna take a little slice

to further develop my understanding of what's going on here.

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You know when you, like, are just proud of yourself

for something, when you have like a hard week

and then you make a thing and it works

and it's like, perfect

and the flavors are like, right.

That's how I feel right now essentially.

I love this Basque-style cheesecake,

because not only is it super creamy and rich,

but you also have so much of that herbal balance

that you get from the matcha in it,

and there's also so much hidden texture.

I think all of the kind of like cracks and crevices offer

like so much support to the actual interior of the cake.

It's one of those things that I feel like it's perfect

for entertaining when you're the person who brings the cake

to the party.

Instant recipe for friendship

and people asking you to come back.

It's gonna happen, all right, because my friends

are very happy about it.

Still good.

[Devonn gasps]

One second.

Sorry.

My bad.