Thandai Cheesecake- Eggless
Look no further for a a Holi festival inspired cheesecake that’s creamy and smooth with Indian-inspired flavors of Thandai! Made with a buttery graham cracker and cashew crust filled with fragrant spices in the cheesecake batter. Nothing screams Holi better than this cheesecake.
I love baking cheesecake for parties as you can prepare it well in advance and then freeze it. Thaw it just a day before the party and you are ready to serve it. Have you ever tried frozen cheesecake bars? I love those, especially in summer. In that case, you do not even have to thaw them.
Cheesecake is really for someone who has patience to wait for it to bake, cool down and chill before slicing for the best experience. It’s all worth it, though!
Making cheesecake recipe is easy. It’s the baking that needs to be taken care of. Some of the problems can be the leaking of springform pan, the surface of the cheesecake can also crack sometimes. Water bath or bain-marie method of baking cheesecake intimidates lot of people. But I am here to tell you that its nothing but easy.
A water bath is not at all complicated. All you’re doing is placing the springform pan in a bigger baking dish or tray/roasting pan, filling it with hot water, and baking it away. I like to foil the bottom part of the spring form for extra protection from leaks just in case.
the reason being that the steam from the hot water will give rise to the cheesecake in slow process then baking it quickly and burning or creating cracks. Also, the slow method helps cheesecake not rise immediately while baking and then sinking in once it cools down. It’s very scientific process. Incase, the cheesecake ends up having cracks, just cover it with whipped cream and even if cracks are exposed. No one really cares as long as it taste good. But, we want to strive for that crack free top.
Only worry about the water bath method if you are using a springform pan. For cheesecake bars, just line the pan with parchment. (check the picture)
Classic cheesecake biscuit base plus addition of cashews. Insanely delicious flavored thandai mix into cheesecake filling and that’s EGGLESS too! This cheesecake recipe is so creamy, silky, and smooth. It is not at all dense as store-bought cheesecake. It’s simply decadent!
Some tips to follow
1.Tips
Always make sure all of the ingredients of cheesecake batter are at room temperature. I left the cream cheese at room temperature for at least 2 hours. Room temperature ingredients make a smooth, silky batter. It won’t beat well and will be all lumpy and chunky.
Do not over mix the cheesecake batter. If the ingredients are at room temperature over mixing is avoidable.
Another tip for avoiding cracks in cheesecake is to cool it down inside the oven once it’s baked. When the cheesecake is done baking, turn off the oven, slightly open the oven door, and leave the cheesecake inside for at least an hour.
It can crack due to drastic temperature changes.
2. Cooling and Freezing
Cool for an hour at room temperature. Then chill for at least 4 hours before slicing. To slice, lift the cheesecake using the overhang sides of the parchment on the sides. Then, cut into squares with a sharp knife. Wipe the knife in between each cut, for neater slices.
Cover and store leftover cheesecake bars in the refrigerator for a week. Or store it in container for 3 months. Just thaw them before a night you want to serve.
Another design you can make this is by adding one color of batter on top of the other and once baked it will create those colorful layers. (Check the picture for reference). You pour all of the batter of one color. Right in the middle add another color batter, repeating until you have added all colors and then at last the white/plain batter. It will spread on its own while baking. You can see the ripple effect pattern created once you slice the cake.
Now let’s talk about Thandai and why people drink it during Holi festival
So, Thandai name comes from the word Thanda (cool) something to cool off. Holi festivities are during the start of summer season in India. After playing holi, thandai gives that extra boost of energy and cools down in hot weather. It is also believed to be served to Lord Shiva during Shivratri. Thandai is made with different concoctions, sometimes ‘bhang’ is also added to it. It is also spring season, so thandai is considered to provide strength to immune system.
Thandai mix is usually added to milk and a drink is made with it. For this recipe, we ground up the dry spices to make a powdered mix of fragrant flavor and add that to the cheesecake batter.
This article that I came across shares good info about the drink – BBC
Thandai Cheesecake (Eggless)
Ingredients
Thandai Powder/Mix
- 3 tbsp almonds
- 2 tbsp cashews
- 2 tbsp dried rose petals
- 1 tsp cardamom seeds black seeds inside green pods
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 1 tbsp melon seeds
- ½ tsp poppy seeds
- ½ tsp whole black pepper
- Small Pinch of Saffron – 5-6 strands
Graham Cracker Crust
- 1 ½ cup graham crackers approximately 30 graham cracker squares
- 1/3 cup cashew nuts
- 4 tbsp melted butter
Cheesecake Batter
- 24 oz cream cheese 3- 8 oz. packs
- 1/2 cup ricotta
- 1/2 heavy cream
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 1/4 cup sugar
- 3-4 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- small pinch of salt
Instructions
- Thandai Powder – Ground everything in a coffee grinder until its smooth powder.
- Preparing Pan – Butter the baking dish. I used a 9X13 inch baking dish. You can use 10-inch springform pan. I lined the baking dish with parchment paper extending out on the sides. (It helps in pulling out the cheesecake).
- Base– Blitz the graham crackers into fine crumbs in a food processor. Add cashewnuts and blitz some more. I kept the mixture slightly coarse after adding cashews, I like the little bite they provide.
- Add melted butter and blitz more until combined. Pour into prepared baking dish. Press down firmly only on the base, not the sides.
- Keep it in the refrigerator until we make the cream cheese mix.
- Filling – Pre heat oven to 350 F.
- Take cream cheese in a mixing bowl. With the help of the beater, beat the cream cheese for few minutes. After initial beating, add ricotta, condensed milk and beat some more. Add in the sugar too at this stage. Mix again until it looks smooth and there are no lumps.
- In another bowl, stir corn starch with heavy cream, vanilla extract and lemon juice, add that mixture to the cream cheese. Blend until everything is mixed.
- Add in salt and thandai mixture. Stir everything to mix with the spatula.
- Pour about half cup of cream cheese mixture in each bowl (6 different cups – 3 cups of cream cheese). I used 6 different colors so 6 bowls. If you use 3 or 4 colors, divide accordingly.
- Add gel colors of your choice in each bowl. I used pink, yellow, green, blue, violet and orange.
- Pour the plain white cream cheese mixture in the baking tray on top of the crust/base of graham crackers.
- Take each color of cream cheese mix and drop dollops of each color on top of the white/plain cream cheese batter and cover up all over. (reference pic)
- Make swirls using a knife or toothpick, do not go all the way down in the white/plain cream cheese mixture. Just swirl in the colored mixture just once or twice.
- Put the baking dish in the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes. They’ll puff up as they bake, then settle back down as they cool.
- Cool them at room temperature for an hour and then store it in the refrigerator to completely cool down at least 4 hours or more. Remove using the parchment overhang and slice using a sharp knife into squares.
- You can also add whipped cream on top.
Notes
A very Happy Holi to you and your family! Hoping just like these beautiful colors, this year and year after brings lots of colors in your life too!
XO, Devangi