My Aunt Wendy was one of the greatest cooks I've ever known. Any time we went to her house, even just for a quick visit, there was something great to eat happening in the kitchen. She made chicken and dumplings with dumplings that were like little clouds, never gooey or floury like so many are. She made cakes, pies and cookies that were the winners of blue ribbons at every contest in town. And her holiday dinners were the most sought-after invite in the entire family.
However, Aunt Wendy until the day she died could not make a cheesecake that didn't come out of the oven with a top that didn't look like a topographical map of California. Cracks, big and little, narrow and wide, shallow and deep would crawl all over the top of the cheesecake, often endangering the structural integrity of the whole.
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Cracks in the top of the cheesecake are one of the two major problems home cooks encounter, and they can make your beautiful labor of love into the ugly duckling of the dessert tray.
However, there are two simple steps you can take to avoid cracks. First, place a water pan in the oven with the cheesecake while it bakes. The added moisture in the air will keep the surface moist and keep it from cracking, in much the same way that moisturizing cream will help your hands. You can also mix a teaspoon of cornstarch into the batter before putting it in the pan. This natural thickening agent will guard against the separation that leads to cracking.
The other major hurdle most cooks encounter from time to time is the lumpy cheesecake. Unlike cracks, which don't affect the overall flavor, lumps indicate poor or incomplete mixing, which will affect flavor. To guard against this, bring the cheese and the eggs to room temperature, to make the fats in the two mix more readily and completely.
Remember those tips and you're on the way to baked cheesecake recipe success!
Common Baked Cheesecake Recipe Problems
Andrew Krause is a Chef and Pastry Chef for over 30 years, at present I am retired, I owned a Gourmet Bakery called The Cheese Confectioner. You can visit my site at For Free Recipes.net
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