Best Pumpkin Cheesecake Recipe, Whats Cooking America (2024)

FAQs

What does adding an extra egg to cheesecake do? ›

Eggs: Three whole eggs hold the cheesecake together. I also add an extra yolk, which enhances the cake's velvety texture. (Whites tend to lighten the cake, which is actually fine — if you don't feel like separating that fourth egg and don't mind some extra airiness in the texture, just add in the whole egg.)

Place your cheesecake on the middle oven rack. Immediately place the large oven-safe pan you're using on the bottom oven rack. Pour hot water into the empty pan on the bottom rack, so that it's about 1 inch deep. Quickly shut the oven door, and bake the cheesecake.

For serving: Remove the sides of the springform pan. Make Ahead: The cheesecake can be made and stored in the springform pan in the fridge, tightly covered with plastic wrap, up to two days ahead of time. Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The cheesecake can be frozen for up to 3 months.

Overmixing may lead to cracks and a grainy texture

With a batter mainly composed of cream cheese, sugar, and egg yolks, you can quickly form cracks in your cheesecake with the excess air that comes from overmixing (via Cheesecakes World).

Sour cream supports the underlying tang of the cream cheese, but, if overdone, it takes over as the dominant flavor. You need a little of each -- cream for texture and sour cream for flavor. With our ingredients settled, we focused in on how to keep the cheesecake from baking up grainy and cracked.

A water bath, also known as a bain marie, is our secret to the perfect cheesecake. It produces steam that wafts throughout the oven, helping to ensure that the cheesecake cooks evenly and stays nice and creamy. It also moderates the heat on the sides of the pan so that they edges don't cook much faster than the center.

For best results, an oven heated to 170°C / 150°C fan-forced is ideal.

Learn more about essential baking tools. 2. Master the water bath. A bain-marie, or water bath, is the preferred method for baking cheesecakes because it gently cooks the eggs in the filling.

It also needs to spend four hours, or ideally overnight, in the fridge before slicing and eating to ensure the perfect velvety smooth texture.

Can I eat 2 week old cheesecake? ›

Prepared cheesecake can be stored in the fridge for 3 to 4 days, per USDA food safety recommendations. We suggest storage in an airtight container, so it doesnt absorb any fridge odors.

Don't rush. Give your cheesecake time to set after cooking. If you're baking for a special occasion it's better to bake a day in advance. Let your cheesecake sit in the oven with the heat turned off and the door slightly ajar after cooking to ensure less cracking.

This will help the cheese cake cook evenly across the middle and the outside–preventing the outer edges from over-baking too quickly! Third, don't open the oven! Cook it the full initial 52 minutes without opening the oven. Fourth, become a pro at judging bake time through the “wobble” method.

What happens if you put too much sour cream in cheesecake? Sour cream adds tanginess and moisture, so if you use too much, it can make the cheesecake too tangy and the additional moisture can make it runny.

Generally, you do not grease the sides of the springform pan. The delicate batter rises higher if it can cling to ungreased sides of the pan. However, some recipes direct that you need to lightly grease the side of the springform pan. Be sure to follow those specific directions.

Eggs are responsible for giving baked goods structure, which means the amount you use directly affects the resulting texture. Using too few eggs will make your desserts dense, but using too many will make them rubbery. The explanation for this lies in the fact that eggs are made up of protein.

Why is my cheesecake not fluffy? The airy texture comes from the folding of whipped egg whites through the batter. However, if the egg whites are not folded properly it can result in a dense cake. If you under-mix the egg whites into the batter you will have a cake with a dense bottom and light top.

Baked cheesecakes need to contain some egg as the egg thickens the cheesecake mixture as it bakes, in a similar way to a baked custard, so it is possible that you are more sensitive to the egg flavours within the cheesecake or maybe did not add quite enough flavouring (such as vanilla).

Those that are a mixture of cream cheese and whipped cream will have a lighter texture but will be slightly soft. The cheesecakes that are set with gelatine may have a fairly smooth texture or a very mousse-like texture but will not be dense.