13 Easy Tips For The Best Homemade Cheesecakes
13 Easy Tips For The Best Homemade Cheesecakes are simple. Isn't there something irresistible about cheesecakes? It has to be one of the most loved desserts of all time.
Surprisingly, my mother and grandmothers did not attempt these delicious perfect endings to a meal. Here are some of The Secrets For Beautiful Successful Cheesecakes, which I have discovered after baking these desserts for years.
Techniques for making a perfect cheesecake are easy to master, but even as a novice, you can make an impressive cheesecake on your first attempt!
1. Before starting one of these delicious desserts, make sure all of your ingredients are at room temperature. Aside from mixing together easier, the final cake will have a smoother texture.
2. Combine the cream cheese and sugar thoroughly before adding flavorings, cream, or sour cream. Stop the mixer a few times, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and the paddle. It is impossible to remove lumps after liquid ingredients have been added.
3. Use the paddle attachment on your electric mixer. Regular whipping beaters incorporate too much air into the batter and it will result in cracks in the final cake.
4. Use a rubber spatula to fold in whipped cream or beaten egg whites if your recipe calls for either. Be careful not to deflate the volume of the whipped ingredients when combining with the batter.
5. Almost any cookie will make a good base for cheesecake. Many recipes call for graham crackers, but I have even used Oreo sandwich cookies! The cookie or cracker crumbs are usually mixed with melted butter, sugar, and sometimes nuts. Even if a recipe doesn't call for nuts, I sometimes decrease the amount of cookie crumbs and add some ground nuts.
6. Crushing the cookies can be done by grinding in the food processor using the metal blade. If you don't have one of these, a plastic bag filled with the cookies can be crushed with a rolling pin.
7. Although I have never heard of anyone else doing it, I put a layer of parchment over the bottom piece of the springform pan, clamp the outer ring securing it to the bottom. Once, I had a problem releasing the crust from the pan and this method has worked perfectly for me. After the cheesecake has chilled sufficiently, the ring is removed and the cheesecake comes off of the parchment easily. (The cheesecake can actually be lifted up by the parchment, held by the palm of your hand, peeled back one side at a time and placed on the serving platter.)
8. After the parchment is attached to the springform pan, place two layers of heavy duty tin foil under the pan and pull up around the sides and crush to the edges. ( You don't want the water seeping in around the base of the pan.)
Before or after pouring the batter into the springform pan, place the pan in a larger baking pan. After the batter has been added, fill with hot water about 1/2 - 2/3 of the way up the sides of the pan. That is called a bain marie.
Cheesecake is more like a custard than a cake. The water bath bakes it more slowly and evenly.
9. Always Place in a preheated oven. Make sure the oven is preheated!
10. Don't open the oven door while the cheesecake is baking! A sudden fluctuation in temperature could cause cracking. Use your oven light to check until the cheesecake is 5 - 10 minutes away from the baking time suggested.
11. Don't overbake. The cheesecake should be set in the middle and jiggle when slightly shaken. It should still look slightly moist on top. The top of the cheesecake should not brown and there should be no caramelization.
12. When the cheesecake is finished baking, turn the oven off, prop the oven door open slightly, and allow the cheesecake to cool in the oven for about an hour. Cheesecakes release steam while they bake and cool. If the steam is released too quickly it causes the top to crack.
13. Just in case there is still some steam coming off of the cheesecake, lay a paper towel over the top of the cheesecake pan and a layer of Reynold's Wrap to hold it. Any condensation will be absorbed by the paper towel. (I don't know about you, but it sometimes happens that there just isn't sufficient time for the cake to completely cool before it has to go in the refrigerator at my house!)
You don't have to follow all of these steps, but I have found that by doing these things, the cheesecakes made in this humble home turn out perfect every time. If you are a bit of a perfectionist, (Would you be reading this if you weren't?) then you understand the motivation behind this!
Almond cheesecake. This was the first cheesecake recipe I ever made. Isn't that gorgeous? It is simply delicious, too! For more tried and true cheesecake recipes, click here ► Cheesecakes.
Hope these 13 Easy Tips for The Best Homemade Cheesecakes ever, inspire you to create your own masterpiece!
