Instant Pot is finally here in Malaysia! After years of hearing about its magic—from a Taste article touting how “The Instant Pot Cult Is Real”, to Melissa Clark’s New York Times piece on how she was “turned into a believer”, to watching Lisa Childs’s YouTube channel dedicate to the one appliance—I was giddy with excitement when I found out it would be sold here. And as luck would have it, with its arrival to my motherland, I got asked to test out the Instant Pot and come up with a few recipes for it. So for the next couple of weeks, I’ll be sharing a few Instant Pot recipes that will build on the wealth of Instant Pot recipes that are already out there, but with a few sure surprises in store!

The first surprise recipe that we shall embark on, is cheesecake! There are admittedly a lot of Instant Pot cheesecake recipes that exist. I tried the classics out in my first experiments with the Instant Pot, and found that while it makes for a decent, solid cheesecake, the problem lies in the adjective right there—solid. After being won over by the superior, soft, custard-like texture of the burnt cheesecakes that have taken over the cheesecake world in recent years—from La Viña’s, to Malaysia’s Tokyo Restaurant cheesecake—a regular, good cheesecake just can’t compare.

So, I took on the challenge of making this soft, custardy style of cheesecake in an Instant Pot, and it worked better than I imagined it would! Getting that gooey, creamy texture was even easier in an Instant Pot than in an oven. Where in an oven, you’d have to contend with uneven baking spots, heat fluctuations, and the complications of convection, with the even cooking of the Instant Pot, it was almost a breeze. (And I’m not saying this because this recipe is sponsored; After all, I’ve promised to always be brutally honest with my writing and critiquing of recipes, especially my own!)

Sure, I admit, where this differs from the classic burnt cheesecake is in that charred, caramelised top. While you can’t get that in an Instant Pot, we all know that the best part of burnt cheesecakes lies in the texture of the custard-y, spoon-soft cake underneath anyway. (Though if you really want the top, you could technically broil it after cooking it in the Instant Pot, though I wouldn’t recommend that lest you overcook the jiggly, already perfectly-cooked cake underneath.) So I would trade a burnt top for a surefire way to get that texture any day of the week.

I’m not exaggerating when I say this might be my new favourite way of making cheesecake! It’s simple, quick, and stays true to the appeal of convenience that Instant Pot is known for. And after many rounds of testing—resulting in too many cheesecakes to physically consume—here’s a creamy, custardy Instant Pot cheesecake recipe, that dare I say it, might just be the best one out there!

As first recipes in new appliances go, this is definitely a convincing one that’s edging me into the Instant Pot cult. (If you’re based in Malaysia and looking to get yourself one, head to their site here.)

About the Dish

This cheesecake has two components to it. First is a black sesame crumb to line the bottom of the cake and provide structure for the looser batter that will lie on top. This crumb is a play on the classic cheesecake crumb, and is made with crushed biscuits (graham crackers, butter biscuits all work well), butter, sugar, salt, and a healthy handful of black sesame to lend some nutty, earthy fragrance.

As for the body of the cheesecake itself, the batter is made with pretty much the usual suspects you’d expect—cream cheese, sugar, eggs, cream, and a touch of flour—but in a well-tested ratio that will result in a soft, custard-smooth texture. And to match that Asian-flecked, nutty black sesame base, I also mixed in some matcha powder and vanilla to the cheesecake batter, giving it a further edge to beat out all the other Instant Pot cheesecake recipes out there. (Bold claim, I know, but I’m confident of it!)

Tips for Success

The key to getting this cheesecake right is in the cook time. But with my experimentations with the Instant Pot, I got that down to a tee for you. (14 minutes is the sweet spot.) But here are a few other tips that you might find helpful, along with pointers should you want to stray away from the recipe.

Use your favourite biscuits for the crumb: I used biscoff which worked exceedingly well with the black sesame, what with its spiced, cinnamony profile. But if all you have on hand are graham crackers or butter biscuits, or perhaps even oreos (without the cream), those would all work well too.
Instant Pot setup: We want the cheesecake to almost steam under pressure here. So the setup involves setting the cake tin on top of a trivet in the Instant Pot itself, with water below it so it allows for steaming but doesn’t touch the bottom of the cake tin and boil it directly.
Cooktime: After much experimentation, I’ve found the ideal time to cook the cheesecake to be 14 minutes at high pressure, along with a 10 minute natural release. At this point, the cake will still be worryingly jiggly and seem undercooked, but trust me on this, you’re at the perfect mark. Many cheesecake recipes out there typically have a cook time of 25-30 minutes, but this completely cooks the cake and it’ll be more crumbly and less custardy as we want it. The cook time will also vary slightly depending on the cream cheese that you’re using. In my experience, both Philadelphia and Emborg brand cream cheese works well with the 14-minute mark. But feel free to experiment with your cook time from 12-15 minutes to get your desired texture.
Chilling it after: This step is perhaps the most important step of all, as the cake needs to cool down and firm up, giving us that spoon-soft texture. I recommend an overnight chill, but if you’re unable to control your temptations for that long, give it at least 4 hours in the fridge. Either way, have a bit of patience, and you’ll be duly rewarded with soft, custardy cheesecake!

Instant Pot Cheesecake

Makes one 18cm (7 inch) cheesecake

Ingredients

Black sesame crumb
120g plain biscuits (biscoff or butter biscuits work well)
40g (1/3 cup) black sesame
45g (3 tbsp) melted butter
30g (2 tbsp) caster sugar
2g salt

Cheesecake batter
400g (0.9 lb) cream cheese, softened at room temperature
2 eggs
100g (1/2 cup)caster sugar
10g (1 1/2 tbsp) all-purpose flour
5g (1 1/2 tsp) matcha powder
100g (1/3 cup) heavy cream, or whipping cream (30-40% fat)
5g (1 tsp) vanilla extract
5ml (1 tsp) lemon juice (optional)

5g (1 1/2 tsp) extra matcha powder to garnish

Directions

Baking prep: Heat the oven to 160°C. Meanwhile, line both the base and the sides of a 7-inch round springform cake tin with baking paper.
Bake crumb: Using a food processor or a pestle and mortar, pound the biscuits and black sesame into a fine powder. Then, in a bowl, combine the two together with the melted butter, sugar, and salt. Pour the combined crumb into the bottom of the lined cake tin, then, with a spoon or a bottom of a cup, press the crumb until it forms an even layer on the base of the cake tin. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, until solid and in one piece.
Make cheesecake batter: Combine the cream cheese, eggs, and caster sugar in a bowl, and mix with a spatula until smooth. Sift in the all-purpose flour and matcha powder, and stir to combine. Finally, add in the heavy cream, vanilla extract, and lemon juice and stir them together until smooth. At this point, if you still see some lumps of cream cheese or bits of matcha in the batter, pass the batter through a sieve to smoothen it.
Assemble: Pour the cheesecake batter into the cake tin on top of the baked crumb, smoothen the top with a spoon and give it a few taps to release any air bubbles.
Cook in Instant Pot: Pour 250ml-500ml of water into the Instant Pot, and bring it to a boil. (The amount of water would vary depending on the height of your trivet; you want to make sure the water doesn’t touch the cake tin when it’s on the trivet.) Place your trivet into the Instant Pot, and place the cake on top. Put the lid on the Instant Pot, turn the steam release valve to sealing, and set it to pressure cook (high pressure) for 14 minutes. When the 14 minutes is up, let the pressure naturally release for 10 minutes, then turn the valve to venting to release the remaining steam. Remove the lid from the Instant Pot. Then, with a paper towel, gently dab away the water that has collected on top of the cheesecake. The cake will still be really jiggly at this point, so be very gentle when dabbing it. Remove the cake from the Instant Pot when cool, then keep it in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, or overnight, to firm up.
Serve and eat: After chilling, remove the cake from the cake tin, and gently remove the baking paper as well. Dust the cake with matcha powder, then slice into 6-8 pieces with a sharp knife, wiping the knife clean before each slice to ensure clean cuts. The cake can be eaten either cold from the fridge, or warmed to room temperature where it’ll turn even softer and custardy-er!