British equivalent for American recipes?

Question

I was looking at some American recipes for cheese cake. One recipe said to use "half and half" cream and another recipe said use "heavy" cream. Could anyone tell me what the equivalent of these would be in the UK. Also what would be a good soft cheese to make for cheese cakes.

Answer 1

'Half and half' would be single cream and 'heavy' cream would be double cream. I've used Philadelphia cream cheese as the soft cheese for cheesecakes and that works fine.



By the way, if you're also bothered by the conversions in weights and measures (all those cups!) the firm Tala used to make a neat little measuring device that was graded with American, imperial, and metric measures - mine's invaluable, so I hope they're still available.

Answer 2

I'm an American, but I do know that our heavy cream (sometimes called whipping cream) is what you guys call double cream. Also, I *think* that our half and half is what you might call *light* cream. (Half and half is a mixture of skim milk and heavy cream. It's about 10% butter fat.)



As for the cheese, every cheesecake I've ever had calls for cream cheese or neufchatel (like cream cheese, but has less fat.)

Answer 3

Hi Sue B,

Let me try and help, half and half would be single and double and

heavy is whipped, now a good soft cheese you could try one of

these both will give a fantastic rich creamy cheese flavour.....

(1) .... Mascarpone , triple cream cheese

(2) .... Ricotta, double cream cheese

Both made from rich cows milk both low-fat, and easily available

in supermarkets, hope i was of help.

bon appetite

Answer 4

Yes, mrsgavanr. . . (ossem) has given you the correct answer. Half and half is single cream and heavy is double cream. Philadelphia is OK or cheesecakes.

Answer 5

Hmm. Do they mean "single & double" or "double & "extra thick"? As they are Yanks, I'd guess the latter!



I didn't know they had recipes. I thought they just had troughs.

Answer 6

"half and half" and "heavy cream" are the same things. its just the cream that is put into coffee.