Overview: I'm miserable without my cheesecake.

The problem is that I can't bake it unless I find Philadelphia cream cheese blocks. I've seen the tubs here in Zurich but these are the whipped, spreadable kind and I know from experience, nay good for a cheesecake!

I'm running a relatively onerous workshop near the end of the month and really want to bring in my epic (if I do say so myself) double chocolate cheesecake to keep my colleagues tip top throughout the day.

Any info would be ace! Danke. =)

Visit Geneva, we have a Cheesecake Shop here.

I think you can get it at COOP, and maybe MIGROS as well...

On that note, anyone know where I can get Grahm Crackers, or Grahm Cracker crusts ? These I have not seen...

Here's a recipe to make graham cracker crusts from scratch. I haven't used it yet, but probably will today when I make a pumpkin cheesecake.

Migros by us (MM) has regular philadelphia cream cheese, but I just use the doppelrahm frischkäse, not necessarily philadelphia.

I had the Swiss version of honey/cinnamon flavored crackers. Can't remember the name, but found them at MPARC.

They sell regular Philly at Coop, just the "blocks" are in plastic tubs and are only 200g each so you need 3 and then some for a regular cheesecake... that "extra" always finds use somehow also.

Meanwhile, if you are keen on trying some new recipes for cheesecake also, there exist recipes which use ricotta and quark instead of Philly.

On the other hand... a fall favorite among my family is this for Marbled Pumpkin Cheesecake which only uses two (8oz) bars so isn't quite so hard on the wallet as paying Swiss prices for all that Philly.

Ohhh, I'm going have to use a gingersnap crust instead of trying to make the graham cracker one.

I saved the recipe you mentioned - it looks good. I'm going to try the double layer pumpkin cheesecake first. It's a real experiment because I'm going to use a real pumpkin (don't have the tinned stuff).

Yap, thanks for the info on the tubs but those are a different consistency than the blocks unfortunately. I used them once before and it was disastrous. Okay, I'm exaggerating but really, this cheesecake is beyond lush.

My quest continues....

Some of the Coop stores have some ginger cookies, I want to say the brand is Annie's or something like that. The box is a small'ish rectangle maybe 4" long and the cookies are shaped a bit like flowers, they're crispy and "wafer thin" and work quite well for making a crust in the graham cracker style.

For "plain" cheesecake I use crushed "karamelgebäck" cookies. They're a bit sweeter than graham crackers so less sugar is needed, and I mix in some ground / fine chop nuts (pecan or hazelnut).

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*shrug*

Sorry, not sure why they didn't work for you, I use them for cheesecakes quite often.

Perhaps if you share the recipe some may be able to figure out the problem?

I had kiri blocks with smoked salmon and scrambled eggs on bagels this morning.

I have nfi whether they're similar to philly blocks but it was a damned fine breakfast

The disaster happened for me when I used a tub because blocks were sold out. This was last year in London though, but it has made me wary of tubs everywhere.

Before I even started baking, I could see that the consistency was different – lighter and 'whipped' in the tub. Right away, when I started to mix it with the sugar and add the eggs, I could tell something was wrong. It wasn't homogeneous and seemed far too runny. It was definitely an issue with the cream cheese. This particular recipe I created over a decade ago and it's a signature one, so is very predictable.

Danke for all the input everyone is offering though. =)

It's true, the tubs are slightly softer (texture closer to mascarpone.) They're not as light as the whipped stuff, but they are softer than the blocks.

Use a bit less cream (does your recipe use cream?) to compensate and you'll be all right.

If you heat milk to 98 F add some live yoghurt, stir, place in warm place to thicken (like bread dough for proving) and then drain through cheesecloth and adding some cream to it, you'll get cream cheese. Experiment with different quantities to get it right. Philadelphia I think has some natural thickener so isn't "real" cheese, but you'll have something closer to ricotta which should be good for cheesecake.

IMHO good ol' British Digestive biscuits make the best, buttery bases. (Available in Coop)

I've made cheesecake many times with tubs of Philly; as Mathnut said, just adapt your liquid ingredients accordingly.

Migro has Philly but the Budget Frisch Käse is fabulous. Texture and consistency is same as Philly (which is a Frisch Käse). Made in Denmark, Good fat content, 300g and only 1.90 for the package.
For the crust I use either McVitie's Digestives (Coop) or Petite Beurre (Migros). The only difference I have found is that with the Petite Beurre you must add a bit more butter.

I've made cheesecake several times with the regular Frischkäse (budget) from Coop or Migros and it always turned out fine. Maybe it's something with your recipe?

I actually liked it better, the Philly one contains so much salt, ugh.

I think that I'll try one of the alternatives suggested here. At least I know that the chocolate I use will be super for quality. =D

Pics to come. If it's a disaster, I'll feed it to the resident grumpelstiltskin at work and will buy a cake for my colleagues instead. =p

After your post on this, I bought the karamelgebäck biscuits. I finally used them today when I made cheesecake. It made a good crust. Thank you!

I also came across whole wheat petit beurre biscuits at Aldi today so tried them as well. Comes out kind of close to graham crackers.

I used Aldi's doppelrahm frischkäse and didn't have any issues with the consistency of the cheesecake. From what I can remember, it tastes and looks the same as when I've used the Philly cream cheese blocks in the US.

layered pumpkin cheesecake, NY cheesecake, pumpkin pie:


I still have to figure out the art of using the mini muffin tins and the correct temp/amount of time to bake these though.

I agree about too much salt in the Philly! I use a New York cheesecake recipe but use 1/2 philly (from the tubs) and 1/2 marscapone which has no salt. Consistency is perfect.