Food
Nina and Ella’s Family Cheesecake
There was a dessert on our menu that went back a long way.
There was a dessert on our menu that went back a long way.
My earliest memories of it were at my aunt Ella’s house, my mother’s sister. That’s where I had it first, and that’s where it lived, at least in my mind.
Everyone called it a blueberry cheesecake.
It wasn’t really a cheesecake.
It was more like a tart. Flaky crust, baked in the oven, filled with blueberries and sour cream, all of it going in together. The sour cream wasn’t something you added after. It baked right in with the fruit and set as it cooked, giving it that slightly tangy, almost custard-like layer that held everything together.
Required listening: The Cheesecake Song.
It had its own thing going on. Not too sweet. A little sharp. Different.
And every time we had family gatherings, it showed up.
So when I put it on the menu at the supper club, I didn’t overthink it. I called it Ella’s cheesecake.
That made sense to me.
Then my mother saw the menu.
And I get the call.
“What are you doing?”
I knew right away.
“This is my recipe.”
She’s laughing, but not really. You know that tone. There’s humour in it, but there’s also a point being made.
I said, “Mom, I remember having it at Ella’s. That’s where it came from for me.”
And she says, “Yes, because I made it for her. I used to make it all the time. Then I stopped, and she kept making it. So it became hers. But it came from me.”
Now we’re getting into family history.
So I did what you do. I said, “Okay, okay, okay.”
Because at the end of the day, you don’t win that argument. And more importantly, you don’t want to.
So the name changed.
It went from Ella’s cheesecake to Nina and Ella’s family cheesecake.
That felt right.
It kept the memory of where I experienced it, and it respected where it came from.
And honestly, that’s what this dessert always was.
Not just something you ate.
Something that got passed around, shared, slightly reassigned over time, until it belonged to everyone.
The Recipe
Before you start
Preheat your oven to 350°F.
Use a round springform pan and butter it generously.
The base
- 1½ cups flour
- ½ cup white sugar
- ½ cup butter, room temperature
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Mix everything together until it’s crumbly.
Press it into the bottom of the pan to form an even crust.
The blueberries
Add 1 to 2 packages of frozen blueberries directly over the crust.
No need to thaw them.
The sour cream layer
In another bowl, mix:
- 2 cups sour cream
- 2 egg yolks
- ½ cup white sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Mix until smooth, then pour it over the blueberries.
This is what makes it. The sour cream bakes right into the fruit and sets in the oven. It’s not a topping, it becomes part of the cake.
Bake
Bake at 350°F for about 1 hour.
Let it cool before slicing. It needs time to set.
Call it blueberry cheesecake if you want.
It never really was.