Question: The most delicious cheesecake I've ever tasted is from Junior's in Brooklyn, N.Y. I don't know if such a famous restaurant will share the recipe, but I hope you'll try. -- Cynthia Southerland, Salt Lake City
Answer: Junior's Restaurant may just be Brooklyn's most renowned eatery, famed since 1950 for its overstuffed deli sandwiches, cheeseburgers, blintzes and skyscraper desserts. Old-time ""Brookies"" courted over Junior's Egg Cream, a beloved New York soda fountain drink made with seltzer, syrup and milk. Today's customers dig the cheesecake -- in volume speak, we're talking 4,000 customers a day, consuming 600 slices -- as well as the orange vinyl booths and stools and the giant orange and white-striped menus.In-laws coming and no time to bake? Nine cheesecake flavors -- apple crumb, cherry crumb, raspberry swirl, chocolate malted, brownie marble, pumpkin, traditional, and chocolate swirl -- are available by mail order (800-958-6467).
And I almost forgot to mention Chocolate Mousse, a newcomer available only during the holiday season. Look for the legendary eatery to open a second location in Manhattan's world-famous Grand Central Terminal.
JUNIOR'S CHEESECAKE
Sponge Cake Crust:
1/2 cup sifted cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 extra-large eggs, separated
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 drops pure lemon extract
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
Cream Cheese Filling:
4 8-ounce packages cream cheese, at room temperature
1 2/3 cups sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 extra-large eggs
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
Sponge Cake Crust: Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Generously butter a 9-inch springform pan. Set aside. In a medium-size mixing bowl, sift cake flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside. In large bowl of mixer, beat egg yolks together on high speed for 3 minutes. Then, with mixer still running, gradually add 1/3 cup sugar and continue beating until thick light-yellow ribbons form in the bowl, about 5 minutes. Add vanilla and lemon extracts and beat to blend. Add cake flour mixture to batter and stir by hand until all white flecks disappear. Blend in butter.
In a clean bowl (with clean beaters) beat egg whites and cream of tartar together on high speed until frothy. Gradually add remaining sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form. Stir 1/3-cup whites into batter, then gently fold in remaining whites. Spoon sponge cake batter into pan and spread evenly over bottom of pan.
Bake 10 minutes. Set aside on wire rack while making the filling.
Wrap the outside of the pan with foil, covering the bottom and extending up the sides to make a foil collar. Place 8 ounces of cream cheese, 1/3-cup sugar and cornstarch in large bowl of mixer. Beat at low speed until creamy, about 3 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Beat in remaining cream cheese. Increase mixer speed to high and beat in remaining 11/3 cups of sugar, then beat in vanilla.
Blend in eggs, one at a time, beating the batter well after each addition. Add heavy cream and beat just to blend. Spoon filling on top of baked sponge cake layer. Place springform pan in larger shallow pan containing hot water about 1-inch up sides of pan. Bake 1 hour and 10 minutes (the center should barely jiggle when you shake the pan).
Cool cake on wire rack 1 hour. Then, cover cake with plastic wrap and refrigerate until completely cold, 4 hours or overnight. Remove foil and sides of springform pan.
Slide cake off bottom of pan onto serving plate (or serve off the bottom of the pan).
Diane Howard is a columnist for Hunt House Syndicate. America a la Carte welcomes recipe requests. Send the complete address of the restaurant along with your name, address and phone number to: America a la Carte, P.O. Box 5994, Austin, TX 78763-5994. Fax 512-453-2145 or e-mail amercarte@aol.com