Instant Pot Cheesecake

 Topped with Lemon Curd, this Cheesecake is AMAZING.

Cheesecake? In a pressure cooker? No way! I thought the same thing, but it really does make sense. Wet environment so it doesn't crack or get dried out. I recently joined the Instant Pot Community page on Facebook, it's the official Instant Pot page. There are some amazingly talented and helpful people on there. All the pictures of food are very inspiring. However, like I said, I wasn't sure about cheesecake. I like mine dense. With a little browned/dry heat crust on the top. I still wanted to try this method though. For one it takes about 40 minutes to cook instead of an hour+ in the oven. So I gave it a go. If you have ever made a cheesecake off of this blog before, you'll recognize this recipe. With a few changes, but go with what you know right? The biggest change is of course the cooking method. Also how cute a little 7 inch cheesecake looks. I mean really. It's just cute. 

You need to do some planning ahead to make this cheesecake. It doesn't take long to put it together or cook it, but the cooling time is essential to help it set and for the flavors to develop. I won't judge you if you decide to just scoop it out with a spoon but it may be jiggly and runny. But it's cheesecake, all cheesecakes need to cool completely. 

Blind bake for a nice crust that isn't soggy.

 First things first. I blind bake the crust. I don't add sugar to the pulsed mixture, but I sprinkle it on top and blind bake to get a little caramelization going. No soggy crust. This step is one I personally don't skip, especially since I just throw the pan into the toaster oven. But if you don't want to do it, leave the sugar off or mix it into the crumbs for crust.

Cheesecake all ready to go into the Instant Pot.

Once I get the cheesecake batter into the pan, I give it a few taps on the counter to bring up any air bubbles. I like dense, not airy. This looks a little lumpy, it's because one of my cream cheese packs wasn't all the way room temperature. It was fine, it baked up smooth.

Cover loosely with a paper towel and foil.

Foil sling. Cut a piece of foil long enough to over the bottom of the pan and to go up the sides of the pan so it looks like it's sitting on a swing. The ends should be long enough for you to use to pull the pan up and out of the pot. Fold the foil into thirds to make it stronger.

Cheesecake ready for topping and a nice cool down.

The paper towel fell on the top of my cheesecake at the end, but no worries! Once that yogurt topping hits it, it'll be smooth and pretty. Once this comes out of the IP it will be a wibbly wobbly. After only 37 minutes, it's rather timey wimey too. (Har, har, har.)

That topping will blend into the cheesecake beautifully.

 See? Nice and smooth, I use an offset spatula to smooth the Greek yogurt over the top of the hot cheesecake.

I use the bottom of my cake stand to remove the cheesecake from the stand. A can of beans would work also.

The verdict. This cheesecake is very good. It's very good. I know I said that, twice. I'll be making it again. It's fairly dense, but it's not as dense as a oven cheesecake that has had some evaporation take place. You can see though it isn't like one of those no bake whipped light cheesecakes. Which I thought was what everyone was eating. For an even more dense cheesecake you can up the amount of cream cheese, or add another tablespoon of flour. Before you try that though I would just make this as written below. You won't be sad!

Lemon Curd and Instant Pot Yogurt

Yogurt recipes

Crock Pot Pumpkin Butter

Pressure Cooker Cheesecake

Crust

14 squares of graham crackers, 100 grams (or an equal amount of Biscoff, Ginger snaps, etc)
2 tablespoons butter, melted 14 grams
2-3 teaspoons sugar

Cheesecake

20 ounces room temperature cream cheese, 2.5 eight ounce blocks, 559 grams
1/2 cup granulated sugar, 105 grams
1 tablespoon flour, 11 grams
1 tablespoon vanilla extract, 24 grams
1/2 cup Greek style yogurt, or sour cream, 157 grams
1-1/2 teaspoons lemon zest, from about one lemon
3 eggs

Topping

1.2 cups Greek Style yogurt or sour cream
3 teaspoons sugar

Make the crust:

1. Prepare your 7 inch cheesecake pan by greasing it lightly. Place a piece of parchment paper on the bottom of the pan, grease the paper on top.
2. In a food processor, pulse the graham crackers until you have small crumbs.
3. Slowly add melted butter and pulse until just combined
4. Press crust into the bottom of a 7 inch cheesecake pan. Use the flat bottom of a drinking glass or your hands. 
5. Bake the crust blind in a 350 degree F oven for 10 minutes. I use my toaster oven.
6. Set aside to cool.

Make the cheesecake:

1. Beat the cream cheese in a mixer or with a hand held mixer.
2. Beat in the sugar, flour, vanilla extract, scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl.
3. Beat in Greek yogurt and lemon zest, scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl.
4. Stir in three beaten eggs. Don't over mix the eggs.
5. Pour mixture into prepared crust.
6. Gently tap the cake on the counter to remove some air a few times.
7. Cover the cheesecake pan with a paper towel and loosely cover with foil. The paper towel should not touch the surface of the batter.
8. Place 1-1/2 cups water into the liner of your Instant Pot with the trivet on the bottom.
9. Place the cheesecake on the trivet above the water. Use a sling made with foil under for easy removal.
10. Place lid on the pot, and CLOSE the vent. Press MANUAL, HIGH and set it for 37 minutes.
11. Once the pressure cooker cycle is complete leave the cheesecake in the pot with the lid on for 15 minutes.
12. Release any remaining pressure on the pot and gently remove the cheesecake from the Instant Pot liner.
13. Remove the foil and use a paper towel to soak up any condensation on the surface of your cheesecake.
14. Let the cheesecake cool on the counter in the pan for about 10 minutes.
15. Pour the topping on the cheesecake and smooth with a off set spatula.
16. Let the cake sit for another hour (in the pan)  on the counter then put it in the fridge to cool completely for 12-24 hours. The full 24 hours will yield a better texture.
17. Set the bottom of the pan on a can or jar. The sides of your pan should gently lower while the cake pan stays in place. If you are using a spring form pan just release the hinges.
18. If needed run a thin offset spatula around the ides of the cake to loosen it from the pan.

*I use full fat (not low fat) Philadelphia cream cheese blocks
* If you forget to leave the cream cheese out to come to room temperature, fill a bowl with water and dump it out invert the warm bowl over the cream cheese. It will come to room temperature quicker in the warm environment. This works great for butter also.

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